Cameron student represents Missouri at National History Day Contest for the first time  

CAMERON, Mo. (KQTV) -- For most 13-year-olds, summer is a break from school. For Harrison Lowenstein, it meant representing Missouri on the national stage. 

The Cameron Veterans Middle School student traveled to the University of Maryland to compete in the 2026 National History Day National Contest after earning the top spot in Missouri for his documentary project. 

His project, created as part of his history class, focused on the Fujita scale — the system used to classify and rank tornadoes by their intensity. The documentary earned first place in Missouri.

He also received the special prize for History of Physical Sciences and Technology beating out hundreds of competitors across all categories in the Junior Division.

“I was just researching topics and I wasn’t really sure what to do until I came across tornadoes and I wasn’t sure what to do at first until it did it on Fujita scale and how it revolutionized meteorology,” he said.  

Harrison said this was the first time he had received an honor like this, making the experience both exciting and surprising. 

He joked that one of the memories he'll take away from the project was staying up late to finish it. 

The biggest challenge, he said, was tracking down primary sources.  

“Some were easy to find and then also trying to find images from that time to put in my documentary that was also difficult to find,” he added.  

History has always been one of Harrison's favorite subjects because, like science, it's constantly evolving and revealing new discoveries. 

His hard work paid off at nationals, where he earned an honorable mention in the Junior Division Individual Documentary competition, placing him among the top 20 documentary competitors in the country. 

His father, Billy Lowenstein, said the family couldn't be prouder.  

“Always been fascinated with tornadoes and storms and other stuff. He always like to create videos. He makes videos with his cousins at home and edits them and puts them together,” Lowenstein said.  

That passion for filmmaking isn't new. Last year, Harrison chose the history of artificial intelligence as the subject of his National History Day documentary. 

Billy said one of the best parts of the trip was watching his son connect with students from across the country who shared the same love of history. 

“We definitely thought he could win. He is really good at the video, he is really good at the editing stuff too so we knew he had a chance,” he said.  

As a parent, Billy said one of the biggest hurdles was helping Harrison learn how to evaluate credible sources and complete an annotated bibliography.  

“When he had to do the annotated bibliography, he had never done anything like that before so we had to guide him a little bit,” he added.  

Harrison also made history closer to home, becoming the first student from Cameron to compete at the National History Day National Contest. 

Looking back on the experience, Billy hopes other students won't be afraid to take on opportunities like National History Day.