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KIRKSVILLE, MO. --  

Several Kirksville Middle School students are working hard until the last minute.

The students in the Rapid Academic Program taught by Susan Hazen are getting ready for the National History Day Region Two contest, Saturday.

And this year it’s called "Turning Points in History."

Student Andrew Gooch decided to make an exhibit on Hiram Maxim who invented the first automatic machine gun.

“It fit the topic very well,” Gooch said. “It’s also, I thought, was really unique. And it wasn’t just another one that had been done before and I thought it was really interesting, so it needed to be recognized. And that’s part of the reason I did it. I found it by starting with the inventions of guns and then narrowing it down to this specific gun.”

And he was not the only one with an exhibit Mikaela Schlueter said she decided to cover Rachel Carson because she can relate to her.

“She was a turning point in environmentalism, which caused a lot of change in our world and how we view chemicals and pesticides,” Schlueter said. “And, she also changed how we treat our world because we use to not really care what we did to it, but now we are really focusing on it more and we have a lot more organizations focusing on that.

Abbey Ranson and Rhea Rechav said it's been fun, but an interesting experience working together.

“We'll it's been really fun, but we can get distracted sometimes,” Rechav said. “But, we're pulling through and our projects almost done.”

“I'm most impressed with how much information we got and how our project is coming together," Ranson said.

The students said they have been working overtime because the snowstorm cost them a couple of days.

The event is Saturday, March 2 in Violette hall at Truman State University.

It begins a 8 a.m.