World War II essay wins student all-expense paid trip to New Orleans

Ariana Van Pelt, 15, stands with her eighth grade advance placement history teacher from last year, Craig Dickes. While in his class, her history day project on "The Monument Men" took second place at the state competition, qualifying her for the national competition. Her recent essay on a World II airman from Nebraska is included in the national World War II museum in New Orleans. (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- A 700-word essay earned a McCook girl an all-expense paid trip to New Orleans.

Ariana Van Pelt's essay on World War II airman Ben Kuroki, a Japanese American from Hershey, Nebraska, is on permanent display as part of the "A Salute to Courage" oral histories. The histories are included in the newest exhibit at the World War II museum, "Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries." This immersive exhibit re-traces the war from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay and joins the other interactive gallery, "Road to Berlin."

From Dec. 10-12, Van Pelt, 15, representing the state of Nebraska, joined other middle and junior high students from all 50 states at the dedication ceremonies for the exhibit.

"It was amazing," Van Pelt said of the ceremonies, that were attended by World War II veterans and hosted by Gary Sinise, the actor who portrayed the bitter Vietnam War veteran in the movie "Forrest Gump." She also toured the new galleries in the "Road to Tokyo," that includes World War II artifacts such as a shark-nosed P-40 Warhawk plane, kiosks with oral histories, the "Dog Tag experience," where visitors select a G.I or civilian and are walked through their unique experience of the war and four dimensional environments.

Van Pelt's journey to New Orleans actually began last year as an eighth grader, when she was an advance placement history student of Craig Dickes at McCook Junior High. Her display on the Monuments Men, a group of Allied soldiers who saved or found pieces of world famous art stolen by the Nazis, won second place at the state History Day competition in Lincoln. This qualified her for the national competition at the University of Maryland, the first time a McCook student's work has qualified nationally for at least eight years, Dickes said.

Van Pelt said the exhibits at the national competition were jaw-dropping, like a rotating tree stump on Teddy Roosevelt and five-foot-tall rockets.

She and other National History Day finalists were asked to study the oral history of a veteran or service member from their home state and write essays describing why these men and women were outstanding examples of courage during World War II. The oral histories are part of the museum's digital collections, along with the student's essays.

For Van Pelt, the experience of writing the essay, attending the dedication ceremonies and touring the museum made the war that much more real and opened her eyes to the reality of it.

"All this time, you hear about the history of World War II, but you never really know how much went on," she said, whose late grandfather served in World War II. "It changed my perspective on what they went through, how much we owe them for what they did."