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What is the topic of your winning essay?

I chose to write my essay about the brief existence of Uravan, Colorado: a uranium mining town in Western Montrose County.

What are your plans/dreams for after high school?

This fall, I’ll attend Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. I’m still undeclared by way of major, but I hope to build a career somewhere in the outdoors and/or service industries. I dream of traveling around the U.S. and beyond, discovering new stories.Ìý

How did your National History Day project influence you and your interest in the American West?

As a river runner, I had passed through Uravan multiple times in my life; I knew the overarching gist of what had happened. Writing my paper helped me develop a much deeper understanding of the West’s mysterious past, distant and recent, and the vestigial structures, culture, and other effects in the twenty-first century.Ìý I found that the incredible stories from people-one of my high school kitchen staff, who spent her childhood in Uravan-don’t always match the visions of statistics and science.

What advice do you have for future NHD students?

Regardless, you project will surprise you somehow. Choose a part of history where you hope for these unexpected twists, and you are prepared to harness such information into your story of this topic.

The View of Katya Schwieterman from the Center.

In her winning essay on Western American history, Katya shares the largely-untold story of Uravan, CO, a community that boomed with mineral mining in the early 20th century, later served as a key locale for the ManhattanÌýProject, but in the mid-1980s ceased to exist over worries about radiation exposure.

With vivid details and a great sense of story-telling, Katya highlights how Euro-American mining interests, the rise of atomic science, and the unique geology in Southwestern Colorado intersected in fascinating and troubling ways for the people who lived in Uravan.

Katya has plenty of time to figure out exactly how to channel her talents, but one thing shines through in her winning essay: she will likely approach her work (and life in general) with a strong curiosity for untold stories and with a recognition of the power of history to illuminate our present circumstances.

Residents of the western U.S. today confront the complicated legacies of the extractive industries and the Atomic Age (among many other things), and they will benefit greatly from Katya’s interests and enthusiasm for exploring and sharing the stories embedded throughout the West!

-Brooke Neely, Research Fellow