Heights Middle School students Grace McWilliams and Genevieve Petersen made history of their own at the finals of the 2023 National History Day competition, bringing home national honors.
Their website project, “Pan Am: Frontiers in Aviation” placed fourth out of all middle school group website projects at Nationals and the judges surprised them with the History in Physical Science and Technology Award that was selected from the nearly 800 total junior division entries.
“We were both really surprised and it took us a moment to realize they had announced our names,” Grace said. “We didn’t know that we were nominated by the judges and weren’t expecting a special award as we were so busy at our last deadline, we forgot to register our project for any.”
Evie Petersen and Grace McWilliams in the crowd at the NHD opening ceremony. The Korean international, Texas, and Ohio delegations are in the background with their flags.
Grace and Genevieve’s seven months of work on their project culminated in the four-day National contest, which had close to 1,500 project entries from junior high and high school students both across the nation and internationally.
“Not only did we learn new skills in website creation and development, but also about a really great story,” Grace said. “Before our project, I had no idea that Pan Am World Airways played such an important role in world history and aviation.”
The team chose their topic in the fall of 2022. Petersen was inspired by her grandmother Genie Pratt’s stories of adventures she had as a flight attendant for Pan Am World Airways in the 1970s when she traveled extensively and interacted with dignitaries, celebrities, and even royalty. Pratt was able to attend the National finals, bringing two of her old uniforms for the girls to wear for pictures. McWilliams, having traveled internationally with family, was also interested in the luxury travel experience that characterized Pan Am.
“It was really interesting to learn new ways to research and network,” Genevieve said. “I also found the history of how Pan Am pioneered the early navigational direction finding and weather technology that enable planes to fly long distances and over oceans fun to learn about. And in addition to learning about everything they pioneered in technology, routes, and infrastructure, I thought the personal stories from former employees were really the most interesting. They had amazing experiences and both Grace and I decided we would have loved to work for Pan Am.”
During their research, the team reached out to various organizations, including World Wings International (a philanthropic organization of former Pan Am flight attendants), the Pan Am Museum Foundation, and the Pan Am Historical Foundation. They also conducted interviews with several individuals, including highly decorated retired Colonel Gail Peck of the United States Air Force, Emilia De Geer (executive director of the Pan Am Historical Foundation and a former Pan Am flight attendant), Tom Betti (historian and board member of the Pan Am Museum Foundation and host of the Pan Am podcast), former TWA flight attendant Jeanette Cheimo, former Pan Am flight attendant and author Dian Groh, historian, and author John Hill, Genie Pratt (former Pan Am flight attendant and World Wings International member), and Captain Ryan Pratt (pilot and flight instructor).
Evie Petersen and Grace McWilliams in front of the University of Maryland’s Tawes Hall.
During the competition, the duo had to go through their own interviews with a judging panel.
“I was just excited to be discussing everything we had learned with them,” McWilliams stated. “They were really interested in our topic and one of the judges even said that they were planning to go home and research more about Pan Am that evening.”
ABOUT HISTORY DAY
The theme for this year’s National History Day competition was “Frontiers in History: People, Places, and Ideas.” The competition challenges students in grades 6-12 to dive deep into a self-selected topic. Student teams then translate their months of extensive research into a presentation of their conclusions and evidence. These can be presented through exhibits, papers, performances, documentaries, or even websites. Teams move through a series of contest levels where their projects are evaluated by educators and professional historians, culminating in the national finals held at the University of Maryland in June.
Top photo: Evie Petersen and Grace McWilliams with their medals and sponsor of their Special Award at the NHD closing ceremony.