Northwood Eighth-Grader Places Fourth In History Day Contest

In some ways, Jill Becker rode an iceberg to the University of Maryland last month.

The 13-year-old, who’ll be an eighth-grader at Northwood Junior High, placed fourth nationwide in the History Day contest.

Becker won the contest’s junior level in Spokane, which attracted more than 200 entries. She placed second in the state, which had almost 1,200 entries. And at the national competition in College Park, Md., she placed fourth of nearly 1,800 entries.

Becker wrote her historical paper about the Antarctic Treaty, first signed in 1959.

She found her topic in a roundabout way.

“I was watching the news about the iceberg that broke off Antarctica, and it kind of struck an interest,” Becker said.

She tried to marry her geological interest with the History Day topic - conflict and compromise. That led her straight to the Antarctic Treaty, now signed by 32 countries.

The treaty, which first involved a dozen countries, established expedition rights in Antarctica.

Becker first wrote the paper for her social studies class. She said she was surprised by her success nationally.

“I was shocked, to say the least,” Becker said. “I kind of turned it in and thought, ‘Oh well.’ At each level, I kept doing more and more.”

The national contest was held from June 10-16. It was judged by college instructors and members of the national historical archives.

One of Becker’s teachers, Gary Griffin, said he wasn’t that surprised by Becker’s success. She’s the first student from Northwood Junior High to make it to the national competition.

“She’s a very talented student, musically, academically and athletically,” Griffin said.

, DataTimes