BREA : Submarine Project Wins for Student

As Chethan Boddula walked around the Red Lion Inn in Sacramento last month, comparing the displays of other high school students entered in the California History Day competition to his own, he had a sinking feeling.

In keeping with the competition’s theme, “Science and Technology in History,” students had created such sophisticated displays as a model of the atomic bomb. The elaborate exhibits caused the Brea-Olinda High School sophomore to wonder if his modest, foam-board display was, well, too modest.

“I wasn’t very confident after seeing all the other displays,” Boddula said.

But if his display was modest, the knowledge he displayed of his subject was anything but. Judges of the statewide competition awarded Boddula’s “Submarines--Machines of War and Peace” second place, earning him $75 and a trip to Washington to take part in the National History Day Competition.

“The thing that won it for me, according to the judges’ remarks, was my analysis, not the appearance of the display,” Boddula said.

Barbara Arczinski, Boddula’s world history teacher, credited the honor student’s thorough research and thoughtful organization of material.

“He went all the way back to classical times, and shows the submarine as a concept of Leonardo da Vinci’s,” she said.

Arczinski had served as Boddula’s guide since the project was assigned last October. Her biggest challenge was convincing her student that the visual aspect of the project was not as important as the research.

She must have hammered the message home, because although he has continued to refine the display since first entering it in a school competition early in the year, Boddula said he has spent much more time researching his topic.

Trips to Brea-Olinda, county and university libraries and the national archives, and an interview with a retired naval officer who served on a submarine formed the basis of the 16-year-old’s project.

Boddula divided his project into four sub-topics: how history changed submarines; how submarines changed history; how science and technology changed submarines and submarines as peace-keepers.

Although Boddula has long had an interest in underwater travel, history was not one of his favorite subjects.

“I used to struggle with it, but now I have a different viewpoint after researching my project,” he said.

--DANIELLE A. FOUQUETTE