Local 8th-grader gets 5th at national history fair
From staff reports
Matt Johnson, an eighth-grader at Tennyson Middle School in Waco, placed fifth at the National History Day competition in Maryland on Thursday.
Matt’s project, “Cameras in the Courtroom: The Harry Washburn Trial,” was about the first live, televised trial in the nation, which was held in Waco.
His state-winning entry went up against 121 other projects in the individual documentary — junior division and was one of 14 finalists.
It was the first Waco-centric project to compete at the weeklong National History Day competition on the University of Maryland campus.
Matt’s father is Waco’s 54th State District Court Judge Matt E. Johnson. He is the grandson of G. Derwood Johnson, who was a McLennan County state district judge, justice of the peace and county court-at-law judge for 32 years.
Midway Middle School eighth-grader Veronica Morgan also competed in the contest, but her junior individual exhibit did not reach the finals. Her entry was titled “Cotton Gin, Friend or Foe? Eli Whitney, Hero or Villain?” She also was awarded a Willie Lee Gay Award for African-American History.
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