Honorable Mention - High School Division
Abby and Ashton Prescott
Oklahoma City, OK
You might not know much about your state but your state has a history and a past. Over the past month or so, my brother and I have learned more about our state than we could have ever imagined!
My brother Ashton and I are home-schooled, and when we learned about this project we were so excited! I don't think we knew we were going to learn so much about our state's past.
We really wanted to make this project special so we went all over the state to learn everything we could. We first visited the new Oklahoma History Museum, where we learned a lot about our state's early government and the lifestyles of our early governors. Next we traveled to Guthrie, to visit our state's first capital, and Newspaper publishing museum. Then we took a trip to Ponca City and took a tour through Marland's Mansion.
What many people don't know is that Oklahoma isn't a very old state. The state of Oklahoma is only ninety-nine years old. Even though Oklahoma is still young, we have such an interesting history. We were amazed!
What I like about Oklahoma is that the first settlers worked hard for it. The Indians took a long trip to find new land, and the settlers had to fight for land to build their homes on. People came from all over the world to build a good life for their families in Oklahoma. We are very proud of that.
We learned some things that we never would have expected. For example, one of our governors, Governor Haskell, actually stole the state seal from Guthrie and took it to the Huckins Hotel. As you probably know, wherever the state seal is that place is pronounced the state capital, so for a while the State Capital was the Huckins Hotel. How exciting for that hotel!
Another reason a majority of people came to Oklahoma was for its oil. When Oklahoma was named the 46th state it was also pronounced the "place to go strike it rich." People from all over the country came to find their fortunes in Oklahoma's teeming oil fields. Cities like Tulsa, Bartlesville, Ponca City, and Oklahoma City flourished.
When we visited Marland's Mansion we learned so many interesting things. Marland and his wife had their niece and nephew come over and visit for a few months. Marland was rich and as you can imagine his niece and nephew took a liking to his lifestyle. When the time came for them to go home they simply didn't want to. Marland said that he would adopt his niece and nephew and the parents reluctantly agreed. After the adoption Marland's wife became very ill, no one is sure what caused her illness, but a few months later, she died. Marland's niece and nephew continued to live with their Uncle. Surprisingly, Marland married his niece, after his first wife died. A few years later, they lost their fortune and could no longer afford the mansion they were living in. They sold it for the surprising amount of sixty-thousand dollars to a group of Monks.
The history of Oklahoma is at times controversial but it is always interesting. Our state owes much to our Native American heritage. Theirs was the first political system of Oklahoma. The Native American culture has survived many adversities and is a strong influence in Oklahoma and Oklahoma politics today. On our collage we tried to show appreciation and respect to the Native American culture and it's impact on our government. We placed a road on our collage to represent the road we traveled while working on this project. We highlighted important things we've learned about such as Governor Haskell running with the state seal and the Five Civilized Tribes and the origin of our state seal. Another fact I found interesting is that many of our early politicians were criminals such as bank and train robbers!
The people we met as we traveled across Oklahoma to learn about our state politics were more than happy to share what they knew with us. We learned many views and different ideas from those we spoke with. The people are what make Oklahoma a great and diverse place to live. The role of politics is to represent all of the different citizens and their differing ideas. Oklahoma certainly has a rich history and a great future.
Abby and Ashton Prescott |
