American Samoa students Gabrielle Langkilde and Crisdel Aguila made it to the finals at  the National History Day competition held this week in the U.S. and in the end placed 5th overall in the Junior Division for their Group Documentary.

The Samoa Baptist School students were the overall winners during the local competition held in February this year in the Junior Division Group Documentary for their project titled ‘O le Mau’ — The Opinion that turned a Nation’.

The ‘Mau’ movement in Samoa in the 1920s became the turning point in the history of then Western Samoa, which was ruled by New Zealand, and led the country to gain its independence in 1962.

Crisdel and Gabrielle say they are “very grateful” to have made it to the finals. "Our project was a lot of hard work, but it was all worth it. We couldn't have made it to the finals without everyone's love and support,” the pair said via e-mail yesterday morning from the mainland, not long after the award ceremony.

Crisdel and Gabrielle competed against some 105 group documentary projects at the national competition, representing top regional and state projects.

Crisdel is the daughter of Carla and Fidel Aguila; and Gabrielle is the daughter of Gwen and Victor Langkilde. Mrs. Gwen Langkilde is listed on the records of the National History Day website as the pair’s teacher for this project.

“Outstanding Entry” from American Samoa in the Senior Division went to Allison and  Marcella Fitisone of Tafuna High School. Their group documentary is titled, ‘WWII: Transformation of American Samoa’, according to National History Day online records as well as parents traveling with the local students.

The project by Crisdel and Gabrielle also received the ‘outstanding entry’ recognition. (Samoa News was unable to obtain at press time a brief summary of the two projects.)

“All of the students had a very enjoyable time and are happy to have had a chance to represent American Samoa at this national competition,” said one of the parents traveling with our students in an e-mail from the mainland.

Teachers and parents who are traveling with local students  extend their sincere appreciation to the Amerika Samoa Humanities Council, state coordinator for the local competition, and the local Department of Education “for their support of our students.”

The Kenneth E. Behring National History Day competition, held from June 9-13, was hosted by the University of Maryland at College Park. More information about the competition is on: www.nhd.org