Duo's play wins competition

Sat, May 10, 2008

By KRISTA HARRIS

The Brunswick News

Two eighth graders from Glynn Middle School brought the characters of Sarah and Angelina Grimke to life May 3 at the National History Day state competition in Macon.

Sarah Whittingslow, 14, and Kaitlin Taylor, 13, performed well enough at the competition to finish second with their dramatic performance entitled "The Grimke Sisters," securing a spot in the national competition, scheduled June 15-19 in Washington, D.C.

"We were surprised we made it past state," said Sarah. "It went so fast."

Entering the competition was a project for their gifted drama class. Their teacher, Terry Johnson, encouraged her students to enter. It was up to them to create a piece on this year's topic for the competition, "Conflict and Compromise."

Women's rights became a topic of interest for the girls. Sarah had written a brief report on the Grimke sisters in eighth grade, while Caitlin just knew the names.

Now they both know a lot about the sisters and their fight to stop slavery and establish rights for women.

Sarah and Caitlin threw themselves into their work. They researched sites on the Internet, pored over books and contacted the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, which sponsors the competition regionally.

Participants in the competition can present their reports in writing or with exhibits, as well as with performances and documentaries. Judges are professional historians and educators.

Johnson said the girls had to use what they learned in class to create the two-act play. It had to be historically accurate, so the research needed to be precise.

"They need to know research skills (for future endeavors) and this (was) a good project to apply it," said Johnson.

Sarah and Caitlin offered plenty of documentation. Their research bibliography, which is handed to judges at each competition, includes 60 sources.

Before the girls traveled to Macon, they competed regionally on Jekyll Island.

Caitlin said she's excited about their upcoming trip to Washington. It's going to be fun, their teacher says, with two days saved for sightseeing.

The girls practice the play every day in drama class and tweak it to make it even better. They hope to get more authentic costumes before hitting the road to Washington.

Johnson said she would like to see more high school students involved in the competition. Middle schoolers get medals and certificates, but high school students get a chance to win college scholarship money.

Susan Doty, education coordinator at the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, says Johnson is an asset "in keeping national history alive" in the Golden Isles.

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