Fruitvale duo second at history nationals

historynat2: National History Day

Eric Bardet and Bryan Peters second place group exhibit entry, “The Rising Sun Sinks at Midway,” featured 15 pictures, 26 pages of bibliography and four unique artifacts - a Japanese pilot’s bloodied bandana, an identification plaque and rising sun logo from a Japanese Zero and the helmet worn by USS Yorktown survivor Bill Surgi.

The process began back in the fall of 1999. Bardet and Peters decided a junior division group exhibit entry based on World War II’s Battle of Midway had winning possibilities. The annual history day competition theme was “Turning Points in History.” During the Midway battle, American forces sank Japan’s four largest aircraft carriers, removing 258 planes along with a high percentage of highly trained pilots from the war thus ending its naval superiority in the northern Pacific.

Bardet and Peters had until March 25 to prepare for the regional Kern County History Day competition. According to Bryan’s father, John, “They had to gather artifacts and conduct interviews all over the United States. Bryan and Eric must have talked to 50 people and that included emailing Japan to get the other side’s perspective. They even made a trip to Vandenberg Air Force Base to interview Bill Surgi, a survivor of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier that sank during the Battle of Midway.”

“That was awesome,” said Bryan Peters. “To get to hear a story that happened 50 years ago from a man who lived through it, that was...that was awesome.”

Bardet and Peters’ exhibit included 15 pictures, 26 pages of bibliography and some rather unusual artifacts.

“We were lucky enough to collect a bloody, bandana worn by a Japanese pilot during the attack on Pearl Harbor, an identification plate from a Japanese Zero fighter plane and even a metal fragment from a Zero that contained part of its rising sun logo,” Bryan said.

Peters and Bardet were finalists at Kern County History Day, earning the right to compete at History Day in California where they won again in May catapulting them into National History Day 2000. The two made the trip to Maryland with classmates John Frost (individual documentary); Andrew Hansen and Brandon Lansche (group documentary); Deedra Araujo, Paul Ricketts, Megan Heiss, Shelly Arner and Stephen Castello (group performance) and Centennial High’s Molly Jager (senior individual performance) who had all qualified at the state competition. Frost, Araujo, Ricketts, Heiss, Arner, Castello and Jager also made the finals.

Judges interviewed Peters and Bardet and looked at their display on June 12. Surgi, who lives in Maryland, dropped by to lend his support and even loaned them the helmet he wore on the Yorktown to add to their display. They would not find out until the awards ceremony, three days later, if they had made the finals, let alone won an award.

“Unlike the other categories, in group exhibit, there’s no more contact with you after the preliminary judging,” Bryan said. “If you make the finals, the display board has to stand alone to win it for you when the judges come by to score it again.”

Their board had not let them down. They earned a $500 cash award for finishing second in a category that featured over 80 entries, prevailing in a competition that involves approximately 700,000 students nationwide.

“When we heard the announcer say, ‘the group exhibition second place award goes to two students from Bakersfield, California,’ we jumped 10 feet out of our chairs,” Bryan said. “Oh, we were very, very surprised.”

National History Day’s goal is “to promote the study of history by engaging students and teachers in the excitement of historical inquiry and creative presentation.”
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