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Ursuline High School team wins history day event
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Singer Sam Cooke didn’t know much about history, but Ursuline High School juniors Stephen Listisen, Ally Christopher and Dante Rossi sure do.
They know so much, in fact, that they won first place last month in the Ohio History Day contest among high-school students from across Ohio competing in the group website category.
Their website, “Archbishop Oscar Romero: A Modern Day Martyr,” at http://52469844.nhd.weebly.com, relays the story of the life, passion, struggles and assassination of the archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.
Stephen, 16, and Ally and Dante, both 17, worked with teacher Maggie Matune beginning in December to complete the project.
Stephen said they chose an individual who represented that Ursuline is a Catholic school from a country where the school has a connection.
“Our school takes a mission trip to El Salvador every two years,” Stephen said.
Because of other activities, only Dante was able to attend the competition, although all three contributed to the project. He had to face the judges alone.
That was a bit intimidating.
“All of these groups were there together, and I was by myself,” he said.
He answered the judges’ questions and listened to their critiques.
Archbishop Romero grew to be not just a religious leader but a political leader, too, speaking against government corruption and for social justice. That led to his 1980 assassination.
Government forces then opened fire on people trying to attend his funeral. But Ally said his murder strengthened the archbishop’s influence.
“They weren’t even able to peacefully attend his funeral,” Ally said.
Rather than quelling unrest, however, many in the country took up the archbishop’s causes.
Murals and paintings, commemorating his life and work can be seen throughout the country, the students said.
Matune’s participation on the school’s mission trips gave her contacts there who could help with the project.
The project required both primary and secondary sources and a woman at an agency with whom the school works on mission trips became a primary source.
“We interviewed her by email and put the interview on the website,” Stephen said.
Photographs and historical materials also provided sources for the project.
The students’ success at the district History Day contest led to their entry in the state event. Winning first place there qualified them for the national tournament next month, but each of the three has another engagement so they won’t make that trip.
Ally will be competing in the National Forensic League tournament in Dallas in foreign extemporaneous speaking. Stephen and Dante will be in Europe with Ursuline’s Global Rovers.
Though the Ursuline team is the only Mahoning Valley high school to qualify for the national event, Sophia Alleman, a student at St. Christine School, a Lumen Christi school, won second place in her category to score a national berth with her project, “Amelia Earhart: The Leadership and Legacy of the World’s Most Famous Female Pilot.”
“Ohio History Day is part of the 10th-grade curriculum, but they [Stephen, Ally and Dante] didn’t have to do it this year,” Matune said. “They came to me and said they wanted to do it this year.”
They worked on it after school.