Eight fourth and fifth graders from Chautauqua Elementary School and Harbor School won awards for their submissions in the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association’s 2017 History Project Contest. Entries ranged from poetry and cartoons, to videos and tri-fold displays, but all had to do with a piece of island history.

First place went to Neve DeVoght and Julianna Steffens for their project on the Matsuda Farm that centered on its history of strawberry pickers and the bunkhouses they lived in. They learned that strawberry farming is hard, and workers “didn’t get much rest when picking time came.”

Linus Nauman-Montana won second place for a video about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and its consequences for Vashon Island’s Japanese Americans, who were sent to internment camps. “Living conditions were terrible,” he says.

An interview with Louis Engels, “The History of Engels Property,” resulted in a third-place award for Alexander (Xan) London-Chambers. He won a first last year and submitted this entry because he had fun and “wanted to do it again.”

Honorable Mention awards went to: Caroline Barnes’ essay and poem, “Ferry Boats: Our Island Connection”; Louis Luechtefeld’s cartoon strip entitled “The Nike Missile Site and Humphreys the Cat”; an essay by Rowan McBennett called “My Favorite Place on Vashon,” which described sand dunes near Luana Beach; and Livy Winnard’s poem, “Vashon is…”

Recipients received their awards at a celebration in their honor at the Heritage Museum on Friday, April 21.

The Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association would like to thank 4Culture, Vashon Bookshop and Kellum and Montoya Building for their continued support of the contest.