Published Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The Capital-Journal

Two 13-year-old Topeka students walked away with silver medals at the National History Day contest with a documentary titled "Walking the Path of Duty: William Allen White and the Ku Klux Klan."

Sjobor Hammer and Anna Hamilton, who will be eighth-graders at Topeka Collegiate School, share how they came up with their idea and executed it to its winning ways.

Hammer and Hamilton were among about 2,000 students competing at the June competition at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md. The Junior Group Documentary category had more than 100 entries.

"We were extremely happy," Hammer said. "It was a great honor to even get to the nationals. And being our first year, winning a silver medal was awesome."

Mike Shepherd/The Capital-Journal

Topeka Collegiate eighth-graders Anna Hamilton, left, and Sjobor Hammer, both 13, recently earned second place in the National History Day junior documentary competition.

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"Our research led us into understanding his role against the Ku Klux Klan, and we thought that it would be an interesting angle to take," Hamilton said.

Hammer added that because White was a Kansan, there was an abundance of local resources available, including the Kansas State Historical Society. The girls used newspapers, pictures and interviews with historians and a couple of White's contemporaries. They also got some nice photos when they visited White's home in Emporia.

The 9-minute, 54-second documentary, which was initially made for the History Day project in school, was shot on a Panasonic DVX camera and edited by the girls using Final Cut Pro.

"The distinguishing feature of our documentary was that it didn't have a continuous narrative," Hammer said. "We divided it into sections, like White's historical background, the Ku Klux Klan, White's campaign for governor, the fight against the Klan and the long- and short-term consequences of the struggle."

The camera and the editing software gave the documentary a professional look and feel, Hamilton said. She also credited her teachers for having guided them through the process.

Wins at district and state competitions enabled the team to compete at nationals for the first time. Last year, they finished fourth in state.

Hammer and Hamilton have established their own production company, Hammerton Studios, and hope to expand it. For now, they plan to keep making History Day documentaries.

Hammer, with her fascination for physics, hopes to be an astrophysicist at NASA. Hamilton wants to get into international relations and work with the United Nations, where she can travel the world.

Bhagavathy Umamaheswar can be reached at (785) 295-1275