Lake Harriet Student Wins National History Day Competition

It was a long journey, but Nathaniel Larson has come out on top. 

Last week, the just-graduated eighth-grader from Lake Harriet Community School took first place in the website category of the National History Day competition, held in Washington D.C.

"It was pretty stressful" when waiting to show his project to the judges, Larson said. "I wasn't feeling too optimistic afterwards, either. The judges weren't as responsive as I'd hoped; they didn't ask me many questions."

Larson said he had to endure three nervous days to find out who had won, days he filled with sightseeing and watching other competitors – including two others from Minneapolis – present.

Larson's project focused on what he acknolwedged was a slightly obscure topic – treaties signed by then-President Jimmy Carter handing the Panama Canal over to the Panamanian government – but on which, he said, was vitally important to the rebirth of conservatives in American politics. It also reshaped US relations with other Latin American countries for the better, he said, despite US participation in several country's civil wars and its 1989 invasion of Panama.

More than winning the award, Larson said the highlight of his project was recieving a personal letter from former President Carter, in reply to a serries of questions Larson had mailed to Carter's office about the 1977 treaties.

"I wasn't realy expecting a response," he said."It was amazing. I was actually gone for the weekend it arrived, and my parents were sitting in suspense for two days!"

"When I read it, it was so...well, it stated my thesis almost exactly!" Larson added. "It was unbelievable!"

Larson's mother Karin said she was very proud of her son, who will be attending Southwest High School in the fall.

"He's the man of the hour," she said.