US National History Day Competition
Each year The Matchgirls Memorial is contacted by many students who are taking part in the United States National History Day documentary competition. In 2024, among those we were interviewed by were Grace and Alexis from Pennsylvania. They won their regional competition and progressed as far as the National level with their entry.
We are constantly inspire by the fact that young people across the world continue to be motivated to learn about, and convey, the story of the courageous Matchgirls of 1888!​
Our names are Grace Hamill and Alexis Favata and we are 8th grade students who attend Good Shepherd Academy in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Our exhibit was titled “It Only Takes One Flame to Start a Fire: The Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888”. We were awarded 1st place at the regional competition, 2nd place at the Pennsylvania state level and went on to compete at the National level in College Park, Maryland, USA. We have truly enjoyed researching and creating this exhibit. We could have not achieved any of this without the help of our mentor and teacher Annie Karcutskie.
We had a terrific experience and are very grateful for the opportunity to share the story of some very brave young women 130 years later!
