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Students took history into their own hands, and showcased to the public what they've learned for this year's National History Day competition.

6th, 7th and 8th graders honed their talents to produce creative projects in the form of exhibits, documentaries, historical papers, and performances.

Such things on display were the history of passenger trains, the importance of toilets, and another titled Einstein's Nightmare which discussed the creation and use of the atom bomb.

Teachers say projects like these are important for today's youth because it allows them to really absorb where they come from.

"Every time we look at this as teachers whether or not this is going to be valuable or should we do this? And every year we answer yes because we see how much time and energy is taken into these projects," said Tim Shieferdecker, 6th grade World Geography teacher.

And one of those projects that definitely caught the judges eye was a display on blacks overcoming racial barrier to play major league baseball.

But not just because of the subject but because It's the first time they have ever seen students do a large three dimensional design like this one.

After research, it took Wesley Hjom and Peyton Munch two weeks to build.

We asked them what their inspiration was.

"We kinda saw a project like this last year at nationals and were like oh we should do it," siad Hjom.

"We both like baseball and Satchel Paige was a black baseball player he was really good to and we just had to pick him," said Munch.

Entries were judged based on the students research.

Wesley and Peyton are among several students who qualified for regionals.

They hope to make it to Nationals again in June in Washington D.C.

Last year they and another group were the only ones from Hannibal Middle school to make it to Nationals.