For most middle school students (and their parents) the time-honored approach to writing a school essay involves picking a subject, skimming some reference sources, and then scrambling to get the work completed ahead of the deadline.
For students involved in the ROGATE program (Research Opportunities in Gifted and Talented Education), the experience is a little different: Pick a subject and research it extensively for the entire school year, and then prepare a 12-minute presentation for a group of peers at a statewide exposition in May on a college campus.
Last May three seventh graders at Grover Middle School, working under the direction of Debbie Cohen, succeeded in moving on to the next level of participation, ROGATE Gold. As part of that program, the students are asked to present summaries of their research in a public presentation. Below are the students’ summaries of their research topics and their conclusions.
#b#Divyansh Devnani#/b#
When I stepped into the Thomas Grover Middle School PRISM room, I looked around, awed at the different projects done by students for different competitions. In the end, I chose ROGATE.
My project on the My Lai Massacre took me on a startling journey from the murder of troops to the psychology of the human mind when a person kills someone. The My Lai Massacre was a devastating blow to the United States, as it shows a huge power and role model like the U.S. could do something so atrocious. This was the beginning of the time where the military tried to hide things their troops did. Although the amount of people killed during the Massacre is still disputed, we know now the way the U.S. soldiers treated the civilians was horrendous, raping them and shooting them.
If Hugh Thompson, the savior of My Lai, hadn’t been there, this may not have ended. After the massacre, major changes in war were made, such as the addition of the Medina Standard, which claimed that the actions of any soldier would be the direct responsibility of the captain. In addition, after the massacre, the U.S. learned a lesson about training captains properly so they have character and a good mind. Lieutenant Calley was a very immature soldier, telling his troops to fire at the civilians instead of stopping them. This also changed the tide of the war. In the United States, there were more revolts to end the costly and ineffective Vietnam War.
The best part of this project was when I went to a Vietnam Veteran’s Home and cheered these veterans, many of whom could barely talk, some who were disabled and many of whom couldn’t even walk. I loved to see their smiles when I played my violin for them or played games with them. They were so happy having someone who would talk with them and pay attention to them. Going to the veteran’s home was a great experience.
The most important thing I learned through the study of My Lai Massacre was about the change to rules of war after the massacre. Many rules were added and people realized how many war crimes were committed during this time.
#b#Siddharth Muchhal#/b#
In the present, if someone wants to know something about a topic, they just go online and type their question into the search bar. They may get an answer that is quick and short. As simple as that. But last year, I had a chance to do more than that. I was given an opportunity to do a year-long project on something rather than simply searching for a few seconds. And I am glad I took the chance.
This opportunity was given to me by EIRC’s Gifted and Talented Service, ROGATE. Last year I created an extensive research project on the Knights Templar, a group that began as soldiers protecting the Holy Land (Jerusalem) and became a medieval empire. The Templars are millennia old, and that is plenty of time for rumors to spread, some that are quite bizarre. For example, some believe that the Knights Templar empire is still running strong and influencing world politics from underground. This is why it was extremely important for me to do extensive research, otherwise I would only be fed various rumors by internet sites.
My hypothesis for my project was that the Knights Templar reached the New World ( the Americas) after being banned from Europe. To prove my hypothesis, I watched “Holy Grail In America,” from the History Channel, and I read “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown, “The Youngest Templar, Keeper Of The Grail” by Michael P. Spradlin, and “The Templars, Secret Society Revealed” by Barbara Frale. These were just a few of my resources.
After making a detailed chart, I came to the conclusion that the Knights Templar did make it to the New World. I would not have been able to come to that conclusion had I not done extensive research and filtered out the rumors. Sometimes, it takes more than a click.
#b#Aum Chatterjee#/b#
12:00 p.m., 11/22/63. The crowds swarmed Elm Street, everyone trying to get a view of the President. Soon, the limo pulled into view. In it sat the president, the first lady, and the Texas governor. The open-air limo moved slowly, the president waving at the people around him. Suddenly a gun was fired. Three rapid shots were fired, two of them hitting the president. The president was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. A few hours later, he was pronounced dead.
From that day on, conspiracy theorists have been fighting to prove the government wrong. They have tried to prove that there were two shooters or that the whole event was false and Kennedy is still alive. Because of all the controversy surrounding the event, I decided to research what actually happened on that day. The first thing I looked at was witness testimonies. Many witnesses were unsure what was going on at the time. Many thought the gunfire was a firecracker or never realized that there was a gunman.
One witness’ testimony that helped prove my point was the testimony of a onlooker standing across from where the shooter was located. He said that he saw a 5’10’’ man point a gun at Kennedy. This description matches that of Lee Harvey Oswald. Next, I looked at ballistic evidence. This evidence shows that the bullet trajectory of the shots that hit Kennedy line up perfectly with where Oswald was supposedly located. Also, bullet evidence shows that it is entirely possible for a bullet to have hit Kennedy and Texas Governor Connally.
In the time after the assassination of President Kennedy, the media was buzzing with theories of what actually happened. For my ROGATE project, I decided to figure out what actually happened. I worked for a year to make a presentation about the topic and will now be going for the ROGATE Gold Satori award. After conducting my research, I came to the conclusion that the government report about the assassination was correct.
