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Monday, 24 November 2008 |
By ANDREA POTEET
Staff Writer
One small step rocketed Wapakoneta native Neil Armstrong into history.
To study the man behind the fame, a Nebraska boy and his mother decided to trace his early steps through the city where he lived.
Alex Dolezal, 11, and his mother, Linda Dolezal, of Columbus, Neb., visited Wapakoneta this past weekend to dig up information on Neil Armstrong for the sixth grader’s school project.
“I told my children, if they ever had the opportunity to learn history outside of a book to take advantage of it,” Linda Dolezal said. “To touch history is priceless.”
For nearly 30 years, children in Mary Lou Green’s sixth-grade classes at St. Isadores have been offered that opportunity as part of a project called National History Day. Students research and create a short documentary, Web site or performance piece on an important person, place or event in history. Students from the school have gone on to the state and national competitions for the project for 25 of the last 27 years, missing two years because of snowstorms.
Two of Linda Dolezal’s other four children completed the project while in the sixth grade.
Sara, now, 14, acted out the life of a chicken plucker from 1934, and Peter, now 13, worked with a team to film interviews with a Japanese American who was rejected from military service after the bombings of Pearl Harbor. The man later went on to win the military’s third highest distinctive honor award as an air gunner during World War II.
Last year, Alex said he read a biography of Armstrong and took an interest in the space program — he now is considering a career as an astronaut.
When it came time to pick the topic for this year’s National History Day theme “a person in history,” he began researching Armstrong on the Internet and his mother placed calls to NASA, the Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Mission Control. People at each place recommended a visit to the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.
“They said the museum was one of the best and would give us so much information,” Linda Dolezal said. “For an 11-year-old, it can be hard to find that information.”
Before boarding a plane to Dayton, Linda Dolezal also started a telephone tree to get in touch with anyone who might be able to share stories about Armstrong.
After arriving Thursday in Wapakoneta, they met with Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum Director Rebecca Macwhinney to review artifacts and footage about Armstrong. They also hit the Auglaize County District Public Library to review newspaper clippings about the moon walk.
But the most valuable information came from Wapakoneta residents, who shared first-hand accounts of growing up with the famed astronaut. The Dolezals interviewed former Wapakoneta Mayor Donald Wittwer and former flower shop owner Dudley Schuler among others.
“We didn’t come here to do interviews,” Linda Dolezal said. “We basically came here to go to the museum and see if there’s anyone else who would want to share their story.”
Alex said he asked several residents what they thought Armstrong’s legacy would have been had he not become an astronaut.
“He was a really good engineer,” Alex said. “And that’s what he would have been.
“It was neat to hear his childhood friends talk about how normal he was,” he said.
Alex said he was also surprised to learn Armstrong had received numerous awards from countries all over the world.
“He didn’t realize until he started this project how famous this man was,” Linda Dolezal said. “I even failed to realize how significant this was. Alex totally respects Mr. Armstrong and his privacy and he hopes he can live a normal life.”
As a final tribute to Armstrong, the Dolezals put flowers on the graves of his parents, Viola and Stephen Armstrong at Greenlawn Cemetery.
The Dolezals spent approximately nine hours each day of the four-day trip researching and approximately 60 hours before leaving Nebraska, making calls and attending hour-long after-school sessions to update Alex’s teacher on his progress.
When their plane lands in Nebraska, their work is far from over. Hours of taped footage, pages of scribbled interview notes and copies of photographs and newspaper clippings eventually must be condensed into a 10-minute film.
“It’s very time-consuming on a child, it’s a commitment for the child and the parents,” Linda Dolezal said.
In addition to the first-hand accounts of history they gathered during their stay, Linda Dolezal said she enjoyed the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with her son.
“It’s been fun,” Linda Dolezal said. “We don’t get to spend that much time together.”
She said she was touched by the people who went out of their way to help her son with his project, which he’ll show at the district-wide competition in March.
“Doors don’t always open for some of these projects,” Linda Dolezal said. “We’re very grateful to all the people who have helped us and we’ll let you know how he does.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 25 November 2008 )
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