EDWARDSVILLE – The Department of History at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville awarded the inaugural Future Historian Award to two Metro-East high school students: Artemis Nuckolls, Mascoutah High School, and Tamira Towns, Cahokia High School.
In conjunction with Black History Month, students from Belleville West High School, Cahokia High School, Edwardsville High School, and Mascoutah High School were presented with a list of prominent Black activists from the 18th through the 21st century and asked to research a speech by one of those activists. Then, applicants had to describe how they would teach that speech to their peers.
“This is the first year we awarded the Future Historian Award and hopefully not the last,” said Jason Stacy, PhD, professor of history and director of the department’s social science education program. “We are very proud of Artemis and Tamira for their excellent analyses.”Â
Tandra Taylor, PhD, assistant professor of history and one of the judges of the award this year, gave a keynote address at the awards ceremony and presented a plaque to the winners. College of Arts and Sciences Dean Kevin Leonard, PhD, also attended and gave a short speech congratulating the recipients. Both the winners’ families attended the event, as well as the student teachers of the history classes at their respective high schools.
“This award brings together several activities that are important to SIUE, the Department of History and the community—how to understand our past and present, celebrating African American history, training future history teachers, and engagement with local history students,” said Allison Thomason, PhD, chairperson of the Department of History, “We congratulate the dedicated students who won the award and the SIUE Student Teachers who encouraged them to submit their essays.”
