GOSHEN, Kentucky — Three Kentucky middle schoolers received the surprise of a lifetime on Friday.
The North Oldham Middle School (NOMS) students were crowned 'National Outstanding Winners' in a contest through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History by school and district leaders.
Two of the three winners were sixth grade students Seth Pease and Emma Jane Lopes.
The contest required them to create an artistic interpretation of historical events during the Hamilton time period, in hopes of being selected to represent their school in a national contest through the institute. For their project, the students took their research and created a play about Hamilton.
"The amount of work we put in, I'd like to say around all together, like two weeks or something if you count up all the hours, it's great," Lopes said.
Now, the students will be getting an all expenses paid trip to New York City to see Hamilton on Broadway in May, meet the cast and explore the Big Apple along with other historical opportunities.
"I'm really excited right now. I'm pretty much speechless. I feel like I'm about to pass out," Pease said.
School officials say three teams were chosen as school winners and submitted their final works in December. Officials added that they found out that one of the school's teams were named a national winner on Tuesday.
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