It seems like Almost Yesterday that a student from Risco, Missouri won second place in the 2009 National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland. Ms. Kassidy Murphy’s achievement placed second out of 134 national entries in the individual documentary category.

Ms. Murphy’s entry was “Formula for a First Lady,” a study of Eleanor Roosevelt, America’s First Lady from 1933 to 1945. The prize-winning video was the product of a year-long study by Ms. Murphy, an eighth grader at the small New Madrid County school.

For her winning entry at the national contest, Ms. Murphy received a check for $500.00 and the Risco School System received a check in the amount of $2,500.00. She was the only Missouri student, out of more than one hundred, who finished in the top ten of any category at the 2009 contest.

Her achievement was great, but this was not the first time Ms. Murphy had won national recognition. She was also a national finalist as a seventh grader in 2008. Kassidy Murphy is not the only student from Risco to earn national recognition in history, nor even the only member of her family to receive distinction. In 1995, her older sister, Kelsey Murphy, placed twelfth in the nation and for her work received substantial scholarship support for her enrollment at Arkansas State University.

Now that a new school year is underway, Ms. Kassidy Murphy has a new project and a new focus to meet the competition of a new national contest based upon the theme, “Innovation in History.” Ms. Murphy has established her goal for the 2010 contest as:  first place in the nation.

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