Local Winner of National Museum Trip - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Local Winner of National Museum Trip

While most high school students are dreading the next term paper, Aly Kozma of Glenburn is signing on for more.

Before you can say, 'teacher's pet,' --- Aly's efforts have taken her to Washington D.C. three times.

This time, Aly is one of 51 national 'Salute to Freedom' contest winners and she will be among the first to step foot in the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Jennifer Thorgramson reports.

For one Glenburn Junior, homework is anything but home bound.

(Aly Kozma, Salute to Freedom Contest Winner) "I love history. To me, research is fun. I know not a lot of people think that but I really enjoy it. I like to learn new things about the past because it does help predict the future."

It's that attitude that has taken Aly to nationals in Washington DC three years in a row for the National History Day contest.

Class work outside the classroom has inspired her to delve into a vast array of topics.

(Aly Kozma, Salute to Freedom Contest Winner) "This year I did women's suffrage which was A Woman's Right to Vote: The One Hundred Plus Year Crusade for the Ratification of the 19th Amendment."

Did I mention that she's a junior in high school?

(Aly Kozma, Salute to Freedom Contest Winner) "It's not just, here's some research, do it. It's fun. There's research, but then you go and spend the night. If you advance and go to D.C., that's a free trip. I won this award in New Orleans. It's fun. That's what I'd say."

That award to New Orleans was an additional project in honor of the opening of the National WWII Museum.

Aly will be representing North Dakota as one of only 51 students chosen to be at the opening ceremony of the new museum.

The assignment: What did your state do to help the WWII effort?

(Aly Kozma, Salute to Freedom Contest Winner) "As soon as they gave it to me I remembered that there's a room at Minot State, dedicated to what Minot did. And I thought, that would be perfect. So I went to the room and took pictures of everything and said, okay, this is my subject and I'm going to do it. They taught over 6,000 pilots for World War II. It was a compressed schedule because what would normally take them about six years to learn, they learned in a few weeks, actually. I'm sure that all this research and learning how to research will help me in anything I do."

Letting homework take her to new heights in history.

In Glenburn, Jennifer Thorgramson, KX News.

Aly Kozma will be presenting her research in New Orleans and in the future she hopes to be an architectural drafter.