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Local brothers receive first place medals in History Day competition

Date: 3/22/2010

March 22, 2010



EAST LONGMEADOW - Congratulations to Michael Sweeney and Mark Sweeney for their first place medal-winning entry in the Massachusetts History Day Western Massachusetts District Competition that took place on March 6 at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). Their entry, "Cloning: Science Fiction or Science Fact?," was a group documentary in the junior division.

Michael, 13, and Mark, 11, are brothers from East Longmeadow. Michael is in seventh grade and Mark is in sixth grade both at Birchland Park Middle School. Their video documentary focused on the historical, scientific, political, religious and media implications of cloning human and other living cells. They utilized video, interviews, photographs, music and their own original digital artwork to tell the story of the impact of cloning on society.

Massachusetts History Day is the state program for National History Day. The mission of National History Day is to improve the teaching and learning of history in elementary, middle and secondary schools, so that students can become better prepared, more knowledgeable citizens.

National History Day, a nonprofit organization located at the University of Maryland, provides a theme each year along with support materials. This year's theme was "Innovation in History." Students in grades six through 12 research and create historical projects that relate to the year's theme.

Michael and Mark will compete in the Massachusetts state finals on April 10 at Clark University in Worcester. Students who are successful at the State Competition will represent Massachusetts at the National History Day Finals, taking place June 13 through 17, at College Park on the campus of the University of Maryland. Delegations from 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Department of Defense Schools will compete. This will be the 30th National Contest and will mark the 28th year that Massachusetts has participated.