NPF Grant

Fort Scott NHS, along with the Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site and the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area , announces a contest that is being sponsored as part of a National Park Foundation grant.  The grant is designed to connect area middle school students with the stories of Fort Scott National Historic Site and other historic sites in the region. Contest winners announced below.

Part of the grant involves the distribution of our park film "Dreams and Dilemmas: Fort Scott and the Growth of a Nation. We will be distributing copies of our film on DVD to middle schools in the region.

The second part of this grant is an essay/media contest. Participants will research the stories of Fort Scott using the park's website http://www.nps.gov/fosc/historyculture/index.htm  and the forthcoming DVD. Participants will then create a written, visual, or multimedia product that tells a story related to Fort Scott National Historic Site. 

There will be three winners chosen from each category. Each of the top three winners will earn their class a field trip to Fort Scott National Historic Site. The grant money will cover the costs involved in bringing one bus from each winner's school to Fort Scott National Historic Site. Our target dates for site visits is April 15. We will have some Civil War reenactors here that day and will be presenting Civil War education programs.

individual winners in each of the three categories will win an IPod with our movie and some other site videos preloaded on them. Either a staff member at Fort Scott NHS or a member of the Friends group will visit each of the winning students at his/her school to present them with their iPods.

The types of entries can be chosen from the following.  

1. Written Media    

• Essay- between 500-700 words, typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point font
• Short story - between 500-700 words, typed, double-spaced, 10-12 point font

2. Visual Arts (Two-dimensional only)

• Photography- 8 X10" maximum
• Drawing- 8 X 10" minimum- 16 X 20" maximum
• Painting- 8 X 10" minimum- 16 X 20" maximum

(Each visual art entry must be accompanied by a written description describing the technique employed (watercolor, oil, etc.) and the story being told by the photo, drawing or painting.

3. Technology

• PowerPoint presentation- 15-20 slides
• Short film or video- 3-5 minutes
• Website- 3-5 pages, 2 pictures per page maximum, 50-100 words per page 

Each product will be rated on 

• Originality of work regardless of selected media. Students are expected to produce their own work.
• Size and format requirements as stated in the media categories section above.
• Creativity in interpreting their story.
• Quality of composition.  

As there are only three months between now and the date of the visit, the timeline of the contest will be as follows. ·      

• January 14, 2011-Contest is announced to the schools
• January 28, 2011-Schools inform contest coordinator, Barak Geertsen, of their intent to participate in the contest. Email contact preferred       
• February 25, 2011-Contest entries due to site.Send entries to: Fort Scott NHS, P.O. Box 918, Fort Scott, KS 66701.      
• March 1-4-Contest entries judged      
• March 4, 2011-Winners notified      
• April 15, 2011-First site visit date for winning schools     

Printable Flyer

 

Contest Winners

Written Entries

1. Short Story by Shania VanNoster-Zion Lutheran

2. Permanent Indian Frontier-by Halei Matthews-Zion Lutheran

3. Fort Scott Colored Public School -by Sirena Bruner-Jayhawk Linn

Honorable Mention-Fort Scott and the First Kansas Colored Infantry -by Kaylinn Baker-Heartland Family Schools

Honorable Mention-Bleeding Kansas-by Heather Bahr

Art/Illustration Entries

1. Kansas Flag-by Amanda Freeman-Zion Lutheran

2.Fort Scott History by Halei Matthews-Zion Lutheran

3. Bleeding Kansas by Kimberly Bryant-Zion Lutheran

Technology Category-one winning entry

Railroad Expansion by Morgan Augustine-Zion Lutheran