Whiz Kids: Matthew Fainor, Kelly Garrigan, Paige Ackerman, Kayla Young, Gaby Maramag

Names: Matthew Fainor, Kelly Garrigan, Paige Ackerman, Kayla Young, Gaby Maramag

School:  Salisbury Middle School

Accomplishment: These middle school history buffs participated in the National History Day competition March 5 at Penn State Hazleton.

Keys to Awesomeness: Passionate about history, these students have also shown they are innovative and have a strong and disciplined work ethic. Seventh-grader Matthew Fainor and ninth-graders Kelly Garrigan, Paige Ackerman, Kayla Young and Gaby Maramag volunteered to be in the National History Day competition. They chose historical topics and used libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and  historic sites in their research. Fainor's project, a documentary about the atomic bomb, earned him a place in the state competition May 11 at Millersville University. Garrigan and Ackerman worked together on their project about Native Americans. Young entered an exhibit about the Toledo War and Maramag created a Web site about the death penalty.