Some students from the Moriarty-Edgewood School District proved they know a thing or two about history.

"For only the second time in the 30-year history of the National History Day competition, we have a team ranking in the nation's top three," said Trevor Carter, the Humanities Council State Coordinator for NHD, after the June competition in Washington, D.C. Those winners are Alicia Page, 12, and Kolene Winn, 14, from Moriarty for their documentary entitled "Alice King: Children's Champion."

Five students from the Moriarty-Edgewood district participated in the national competition and all five were finalists. Ashley Page and Elizabeth Montano ranked seventh in the nation and received the Outstanding State Entry Senior Division award for their documentary about WWII journalist Ernie Pyle. Peter Brown ranked 13th in the nation and received the Outstanding State Entry Junior Division for his solo performance on the inventor of basketball, James Naismith.

"Three out of the six New Mexico groups to make it to finals were from Moriarty," says Carter. "That speaks highly for those kids and that community."

The NHD program starts out with nearly 600,000 participants who compete in local and state competitions. States send the top two winners, either individuals or groups from each of eighteen categories, to the national competition. New Mexico sent 48 students to Washington, D.C. Out of that number, the five from Moriarty, one from Albuquerque, one from Los Alamos and a group from Deming became national finalists.