Greene County Middle School student, Owen Dyer, placed first in the Junior Individual Documentary category at the National History Day Northeast Region competition. The event, sponsored by the East Carolina University Department of History, in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences was held "virtually" this year due to the current coronavirus lockdown.

Dyer's entry titled "It's Mine and I'm Taking It" examined the concept of Manifest Destiny and the expansion of the United States in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Dyer is now eligible to compete at the state competition, also held on-line this year, which will be conducted by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

Dyer said, “the title of my documentary says it all, when moving west, the land many Americans wanted to take for themselves! This documentary just shows many possible reasons many people wanted to move west and expand and why some thought it was a selfish thought. This documentary is important because viewers who have watched the content will know what steps many brave American people had to take for the country to be as great as it is today!”

National History Day (NHD) is a non-profit education organization based in College Park, Maryland. NHD offers year-long academic programs that engage over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Since 1974, NHD has continuously improved history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators.

The largest NHD program is the National History Day Contest that encourages more than half a million students around the world to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice. Students enter these projects at the local and affiliate levels, with top students advancing to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park.