Students Adah Aubrey and Emily Gatts pose in front of their project about hurricanes during the Marshall County Schools Social Studies Fair held Thursday at the John Marshall Field House. (Photo Provided)

MOUNDSVILLE — Marshall County Schools students competed Thursday in the 13th annual Marshall County Schools Social Studies Fair at the John Marshall Field House.

The students came from Cameron Elementary, Center McMechen Elementary, Central Elementary, Glen Dale Elementary, Hilltop Elementary, Sand Hill Elementary, Sherrard Middle School and Cameron High School. They competed in two divisions, each featuring nine different categories.

Center McMechen Elementary School Principal Arica Holt, coordinator of the fair, said 88 projects were presented by 126 students.

“It went well. This is our 13th year having it here in Marshall County and I would say it was the best year yet with projects with the creativity and with the research that went behind them,” she said.

The students had nine categories to choose from — anthropology, economics, geography, political science, psychology, sociology, state and local history, United States history and world history. They had to create a board of artifacts, write an abstract and do an oral presentation based on content standards from the West Virginia Department of Education.

While an overall winner isn’t named during the fair, 10 students earned a perfect score from the judges. Those students were Miles Baker, Dexter Choi, Aubrey Gatts and Gunner King in Division I and Abby Allman, Adah Aubrey, Emily Gatts, Hunter Lemmon, Colsen McCutcheon and Chloe Pickett in Division II.

Holt said having such competitions is important to help all students learn.

“It gives students a chance to explore new things and to present. We feel it’s important for them to talk to people and answer questions from judges,” she said.

“It’s important to have different outlets for students. The social studies fair and the science fair are ways for students who are not typically at the top of the class … to present information they learned in a different way.”

Holt noted one of her favorite projects came from a student at her school. Hayden Parker’s project involved him writing letters to the governor’s of all 50 states. Of that number, 39 governors wrote him back with some mailing stickers and other memorabilia.

“He combined the letters and put them in a binder. It was a clever one. We didn’t know he had been working on it for over a year,” Holt said.

Holt said she was proud of all the students who participated.

“Doing the fair is a family project; it takes a village. We have amazing teachers in Marshall County and parents and students. We’re lucky we can provide something like this,” she said.

Individual winners and group winners in each category are now slated to compete against students from Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Wetzel counties during the Regional Social Studies Fair at the John Marshall Field House on March 4.

Regional winners from all over the state will compete at the West Virginia State Social Studies Fair on April 10 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.