That’s the quote under Mattilan Martin’s [11] picture in the basketball program–and she’s not a ‘dead fish’ at all. Martin is an exceptional student; she’s willing to do more than others and to work hard.  From June 15 to June 27 she’ll go to France with a grant from the National History Day Institute, a highly regarded academic program for elementary and secondary school students.

Together with her STEM middle school teacher, Martin entered a contest to participate in the program ‘Normandy: Sacrifice for Freedom’. As part of her application, she had to write an essay about why she felt the most qualified and what it would mean to her to be a part of the project.

She and her teacher got accepted as one of fifteen student-teacher pairs out of about 80,000 applicants this year.

As a preparation for her stay in France, Martin is expected to do research for about 10 hours per week in addition to her hard classes and basketball practice.  Her research is about a World War II veteran who was from Minnesota and died in combat on the beaches of Normandy.

She will receive educational materials from the Institute, which she plans to donate to BHS after her project.

Martin is going to create a website to commemorate the life of the veteran. During her stay in France she’ll participate in a ceremony where she’ll get to place a ceremonial wreath on that soldier’s grave.