Chesterfield teen awarded VHS Bobby Chandler Student Award

The Virginia Historical Society (VHS) presented 12 awards to individuals who have made significant contributions to research, education, and the mission of the society at a summer luncheon. A total of ten VHS awards were presented to a teacher, a businessman, an author, students, volunteers, and staff.

Callie Marie Angle, a student at Mathematics and Science High School at Clover Hill in Chesterfield County, was awarded the 2010 Bobby Chandler Student Award.

The Bobby Chandler Student Award, made possible by the Kip Kephart Foundation, is awarded to a secondary school history student who demonstrates intelligence, creativity, and research skills using primary source materials. Angle was recognized for her work on an applied history class project, “Between the Living and the Dead: A Study of the Inequity of Tuberculosis Treatment Between the Races in Virginia, 1900–1960.”

VHS President and CEO Dr. Paul Levengood, who presented the award, said Angle’s project included a comparison of the treatment of tuberculosis patients at Catawba Sanatorium in Roanoke and Piedmont Sanatorium in Burkeville. “Miss Angle did extensive research using census records, newspaper articles, Virginia Commissioner of Health reports, and other government documents. Her analysis was impressive.”

“I am grateful to be accepting this award,” Angle said. “This project, which took me more than a year and a half to complete, involved a lot of hard work and effort. In the end, it was definitely worth it.”

Five out of the last six Bobby Chandler Student Award winners have attended Clover Hill High School. Angle is the sixteenth recipient since this award was created in 1996.

“It is in history that many of us find comfort, that we find meaning,” Levengood said to awards winners and their guests, trustees, and staff present at the event. “We are here as a refuge and as a place to learn and put our lives in context. What else but history, and perhaps faith, allows us to do that? With these awards handed out today you will see those who have excelled in the fields of scholarship, service, and support of the Virginia Historical Society.”