A while back I received an email from a Thomas County Middle School teacher asking if I would be willing to help judge its National History Day competition. I agreed but was somewhat nervous, explaining I would be happy to read papers, but I was no historian.

She assured me that I would be given a rubric and that the students’ poster boards, documentaries, websites, and bibliographies should help me understand whatever they did their project on.

I headed in on Thursday morning not knowing what I had gotten myself into, but thoroughly enjoyed seeing the history that interests today’s middle school students.

Each student who partook in the contest chose a topic of interest to them and could choose how to present the topic, whether it be through a poster, documentary, website, or performance. It had to relate to the theme of “rights and responsibilities,” and students must use a variety of secondary and primary sources, along with a typed paper on how they chose their topic and incorporated their information throughout.

I viewed projects on the 19th Amendment, Brown v. Board of Education, Japanese Internment camps, the freedom of religion, and women’s suffrage.

As the projects narrowed down to first, second, and third place, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would’ve created in middle school, had NHD been an assignment.

I think it’s fair to say most middle school students, and elementary school students go through a phase where they become obsessed with a specific instance in history. At the time, I was heavily interested in the Illuminati and opted to not eat dinner with my family one night, because I needed to watch a YouTube video on the latest theory. However, I don’t think that would’ve been my topic of choice.

If I were a middle school student today, my topic would focus on Paris Hilton’s recent revelation about her experience at Utah’s Provo Canyon School.

I know to many this won’t seem like history, but many schools for “troubled teens” have a history of abuse and breaking children, rather than making them better.

It would deeply resonate with the theme as Paris Hilton used her notoriety as an heiress to draw attention to a larger issue. She found her responsibility and right to inform the public as people often don’t listen to “troubled youth.”

She was lucky enough to have a voice that already had a massive following, and now she could use it for good.

For those who don’t know Hilton’s story, it was detailed in her documentary “This is Paris,” back when it premiered in 2020.

In the documentary, Hilton reveals she was verbally, physically, and sexually abused at the hands of Provo Canyon School faculty.

Since her revelation, thousands of former students have come forward to reveal their mistreatment and abuse at the school, as have other survivors from similar institutions.

Further research into the topic shows video footage of a student being grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground by a staff member, who then held him there until another staff member came across the two, separating them. The student would go on to complain of headaches for days before his mother called the school and demanded they send him to the doctor. It was there, that doctors found he had a concussion as a result of the staff member slamming him to the ground.

As an individual who had a friend attend a troubled teen wilderness program, I believe these stories and the darkness that surrounds the troubled teen industry.

Sure, it’s not the same historical revelation as the 19th Amendment or Japanese Internment camps. But, the reality is these children are being treated horrifically with little oversight by the government.

These children do not attend these schools voluntarily and most are taken in the middle of the night at the hands of their parents, who say there is no other option. I believe in discipline. I believe your parents are the head of the household and you are to listen to them. But, I do not believe that gives any adult the right to starve you, beat you, or sexually assault you into submission. I had spankings growing up and I believe again that those are effective, but that is not what this industry is doing.

It is proven by the numerous criminal complaints that the school’s actions are much more heinous.

I believe that if children or teens were troubled when they got there, they left worse off than they came. They become shells of themselves and trust no one, as they have been asked repeatedly who would their parents believe me or their troubled, lying child.

I don’t have an answer to the troubled teen industry, but as the prompt asks during NHD what is the long-term impact?

I would say, an increased suicide rate, and a lack of trust in any adult figure, especially those who they thought would always do what was in their best interest.