Middle school students from Mt. Pleasant competed at the 2016 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland. Aurora Vansickel and Claire Holtkamp presented an exhibit called “Marie Curie: Exploring Radiation, Encountering Challenges, Exchanging Ideas, Saving Lives,” and they came in fifth place in the country in the Junior Group Exhibit category. The two were among 62 students from Iowa that joined 3,000 students from around the world competing at the event. Worldwide, more than 500,000 students participated in the year-long program, including nearly 8,000 in Iowa. The program has students present papers, exhibits, documentaries, websites and performances about historical subjects related to an annual theme. The theme from the past year was “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.”