On to District

This year Tayler participated in the History Day Competition. (He is in the honors class, so it was a required assignment.) The theme was: 'The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies'. He decided to do an exhibit project on Joseph Smith.


He started researching and learning all he could about Joseph Smith. He started reading The Work and the Glory series so that he could better understand the facts that he had been learning. When we were in Utah, we visited temple square and watched the Joseph Smith movie. We also started collecting anything that we could display that dealt with Joseph Smith. Over the Christmas holiday, we put the board together. It turned out AWESOME!

It has some of the common paintings that we see often in the church. But it also has a lot of paintings by Liz Lemon Swindle and CCA Christenson (a painter from early Church history). We found a letter from Joseph Smith to Emma while in Liberty jail and we have a scan of the letter, with what it says next to it.

We included early photographs (1907) of places of interest: Hill Cumorah, The Sacred Grove, Nauvoo, Kirtland, the Smith Homestead, etc. We found a photograph of Carthage Jail that was taken in 1886! We included a pocket-size Book of Mormon, and various quotes about Joseph Smith and by Joseph Smith. We posted a timeline, and the Articles of Faith.

Tayler wanted to make his board interactive, so we found 5" x 7" paintings by Liz Lemon Swindle and made them 'flip'. You can lift the card to learn about the artist's inspiration, thoughts and feelings regarding the painting.


Tayler had to summarize his information to put on the board, why he chose Joseph Smith, what were his actions and his legacy. He was limited to 500 words including titles and captions (quotations and citations didn't count). He also had to write a process paper (500 word limit). And, he had to have an annotated bibliography (which turned out to be 12 pages long)! He had to present his project to his class, then the students had a chance to ask questions. He had 13 questions that he had to respond to (the other kids had about 6). This project was HUGE! It took a lot of work! But more importantly, it helped Tayler learn more about Joseph Smith and strengthen his testimony! It also has allowed him to be a missionary and share information about our religion with others. Tayler's project was selected to go on to the District History Day Competition in February. Prior to the district competition, all of the projects from his school will be on display at the school on February 4th - come and check it out if you'd like to. Congratulations Tayler for making it to district, but more importantly, congratulations for having the courage to share the gospel!