Recently we had the thrill of watching our oldest granddaughter, Heather, and her two friends via Webcam receiving special recognition at National History Day, held at University of Maryland, June 11-13.

They won top honors in the group presentation in the Irish or Irish-American history category. As result they are being awarded a trip to Ireland. This was announced on the front page in the June 20 issue of the Nevada Daily Mail and had been announced on KNEM/KNMO.

I had told them that if they did receive a trip to Ireland that they would need me to go as a chaperone. After all, I have had experience in chaperoning kids on trips. Rene, our daughter-in-law said, "No. That is for me."

This is the third year that Heather and her two friends, Hannah Pearson and Susannah Stengel have represented their Conway schools and the state of Arkansas in the national event. This is the fourth year for Heather and Susannah to compete -- the first year another girl participated, but moved and then Hannah became involved.

In the group participation, the group does research on their topic and develops their own skits. Their customs and props are developed to represent the theme during the era of the topic. It is a great amount of involvement and preparation; it is difficult to accomplish and there is a high level of competition. It is great accomplishment to earn the opportunity to represent the state. It certainly is an accomplishment to represent the state for three years and to win a special award.

Two teams were selected to represent Arkansas in the senior division of group presentation and both were from Conway High School this year. When they went to Washington, D.C., this year, we knew that on the first day of competion they gave their presentation. We received word that the girls had been selected as finalist and were to give their presentation again with a chance of getting to go to Ireland. Being among the finalist was an accomplishment in itself. We were aware that they might be selected to go to Ireland, but the results were not to be announced until the next day.

We thought, "Wouldn't it be great if they did win the opportunity for the special trip?" We had hoped that they would and were anxious to hear the results. On the morning of the awards presentation, Rene‚ called me while I was on a walk, telling me that we could watch the presentation on the computer. It was time for it to start according to Eastern Time. Should I go back or finish my walk? I completed my walk and then found the Webcam site.

When I went to Black, a one-room grade school, we did not even have electricity. Now, it is possible to watch an event on my home computer where our granddaughter is involved near Washington, D.C. -- a great change since when I was a child.

We were able to watch the participants of National History Day walk around in the assembly area. It looked like it would have been great to be there. I had to get ready and glanced at the computer occasionally to see what they were doing. They were announcing the individual awards. As I was getting breakfast, I heard, "Leonard, get down here!" (our computer is in the family room in the basement).

I got down there as quickly as I could. They had just announced that they were going to have the group presentation awards and that this group from Conway, Ark., will be going to Ireland. I got there in time to see Heather and her two friends walking to the stage. They seemed excited and thrilled. Heather told me that her thoughts were, "Oh, my gosh." It was "cool" to be named as a winner.

As we watched, we were just excited, both having tears of joy in our eyes. What a special thing to watch. The announcer noted that day was also Susannah's birthday. Receiving this award was a great birthday present for her.

Most of us are not aware of the Irish Revolution that took place from 1902 to 1922. Their theme was, "Taking a stand." They arrived at their subject as result of a poem written by William B. Yates, "Terrible Beauty."

Their presentation told a story of women and how they supported the revolution. Each of the presenters became a character, telling what they had done. They struck the highlight of the revolution. They presented the historical analysis with the symbiotic interaction of all three characters together. They read a portion of the poem at the end -- finalizing everything.

Heather said that the maximum time for their skit was 10 minutes. Over 10 minutes means disqualification. Theirs was nine minutes and 50 seconds. There is no minimum; however, the longer the better.

After they returned to Conway, they performed one more time, making a tape for the Irish National convention to be held in Boston. The three girls are now going to retire as participants of History Day, because of their success for three years and especially this year. It is a difficult thing to do and they will help others to participate, including Heather's sister Christie and Hannah's brother. Heather considers her experiences in History Day as being good. Lot of people donot look at history in that way. According to her when you actually look at it history, it is interesting.