Peary Magnet student chosen to compete in National
History Day competition May 6-8 in Rocklin, Calif.
Ayame Lewis, a student at Robert E. Peary Math/Science/Technology Magnet Middle School was selected to represent Los Angeles County at the National History Day state competition May 6-8 at William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif.
National History Day was the result of history professor David Van Tassel, who created the event to address what he saw as the decline of the humanities in general and history in particular in America’s schools.
Peary Magnet student chosen to compete in National
History Day competition May 6-8 in Rocklin, Calif.
Ayame Lewis, a student at Robert E. Peary Math/Science/Technology Magnet Middle School was selected to represent Los Angeles County at the National History Day state competition May 6-8 at William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif.
National History Day was the result of history professor David Van Tassel, who created the event to address what he saw as the decline of the humanities in general and history in particular in America’s schools.
Each year National History Day comes out with a theme for students to work on and this year’s theme is “Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange in History.”
Lewis, 13, chose to base her project on Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin in 1928.
Anh-Tony Tran, 8th grade history teacher at Peary and coordinator of the National History Day event at the school for the past 11 years, said he was very proud of how all of Lewis’ hard work paid off.
“Ayame’s project is based on Alexander Fleming and Penicillin,” Tran said. “She had to research for primary and secondary sources [books, websites, magazine, newspaper articles, interviews, etc.] and annotate each resource on how it helps her to understand the importance of his work. This takes several months to do. This was part of her summer homework for my class.”
Beginning in May 2015, Lewis conducted her initial research, going to the library to read books on Fleming, digging up interviews with World War II soldiers who benefited from Fleming’s discovery and actually contacting St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in Paddington England, where Fleming studied medicine.
Once the research was done, Lewis wrote what is called a Processing Paper, where she noted in detail how she conducted her research and why she picked Fleming as a topic of interest.
“I chose Fleming as a topic because it’s related to medical science and when I grow up, I want to get into the medical science field as a doctor or a scientist,” Lewis said.
Called “Alexander Fleming and Penicillin, the Wonder Drug,” Lewis’ project consists of two exploratory boards with numerous photos as well as some hands-on primary sources such as mould samples and a microscope.
“There are pictures of the person who discovered the mould, and pictures of the mould and also pictures of people who made the mould into a medicine (Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain),” Lewis said. “And pictures of the scientists mass producing the mould. I also have vintage ads about penicillin and how people thought about penicillin.”
Tran said if Lewis wins first or second place in her individual exhibit, then she will qualify to represent the state of California in the National History Day event at the University of Maryland.
Although Lewis successfully met the almost year-long challenge of conducting the research and putting her project together, she still has yet to face her biggest obstacle: getting to the event itself.
Because while the school covers the cost for the registration fees, all travel expenses, including airfare and a hotel room, must be covered by Lewis and her family, which presents a problem seeing as how they have yet to raise the money for the trip.
For airfare and a two-night stay at a hotel, Lewis and her family estimate that they will need about $1,000 to make the trip to Rocklin.
To raise money for the trip, Lewis plans to start a cookie bake sale at her school. However, Lewis is not alone in her fundraising efforts. Tran also plans to help Lewis raise money by writing letters to the members of the Gardena City Council and the Gardena Elks Lodge seeking donations.
Lewis, who plans to pursue a career in science, is hopeful that she will be able to raise enough money to join her fellow competitors and show off all of her hard work.
“[To be able to attend the competition] I would feel really great and I will try my best because I know that many people support me and I would be so happy.”
For more information on the National History Day competition, please email Anh-Tony Tran at att8689@lausd.net or call him at 310-736-0493.
Donations for Ayame Lewis can be made to Attn: Anh-Tony Tran, Peary Magnet Booster Club, 1415 W Gardena Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247. To speak to Anh-Tony Tran regarding donations, call him at 310-736-0493.
