Local student wins national history award

Jillian Brenner, Grade 7 at Murray Middle School, qualified for the National History Day competition; Leadership & Legacy in History with an exhibit entitled “Thrust the Warlords Back. . .The Torpedo Squadron Eight at Midway.”

Brenner competed and won four different levels of history day competition. The first round was at Murray, then on to the Saint Paul Public Schools Regional competition, State History Day followed to earn the highly coveted National History Day position. Brenner entered the Junior Individual Exhibit category. She researched, wrote and created a stand-alone exhibit detailing the Torpedo Eight’s actions at the Midway Battle in the Pacific Front during World War II.

Two entries from each category advance to Nationals. Two. In a state where over 50,000 students work on a history day project. It Is a very high honor to qualify, and Brenner put in hundreds of hours to get to Nationals.

Jillian reworked her exhibit between each level of competition. Reworking new research into her project and creativity adjusting her exhibit to capture attention while telling the story of the Torpedo Eight Squadron’s actions. This unit of aircraft attacked the Japanese aircraft carriers and although only one of the men survived the attack, they pulled the Japanese planes down from defending the skies high above the Japanese carriers which opened the skies for the next wave of American planes. Midway was a turning point battle and after Midway, the USA was winning more battles than it was losing, which meant we were pushing or thrusting the warlords back to Tokyo.

At Nationals, Jillian was chosen for the Salute to Courage Award and a trip to the WWII Museum in New Orleans. The Museum is planning an opening of The Campaigns of Courage, and Brenner will research a Minnesotan who served in the Pacific campaign, similar to the men of the Torpedo Squadron Eight.