Howe Manning Elementary, Middleton- April 3rd

42° 35' 47" N
71° 00' 51" W 
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Also, compare today's coordinates to those of other recent EarthView outings, near and far! 

The Earthview team is happy to be back visiting Howe Manning Elementary School in Middleton for the third year in a row! The blog post for our first visit to the school back in 2012 described a little about the town and you can find that by going here. 

In case you missed the update from last week's post on the Geography Bee, Massachusetts finally has a female to represent our state in the National Geography Bee. Lucy Chae, a 7th grader from Charles E. Brown School in Newton, was the winner of last week's Bee and the first female winner from our state in the Bee's 27 years! 

The runners up were Michael Izdal of Wilson Middle School in Natick and Markus Elbert of Oak Hill Middle School  in Newton. It seems that Newton is doing something right in regards to  Geography Education -- the winner and a runner up reside and attend school there. The EarthView Team wishes Lucy Chae good luck at the National Competition . It will take place in Washington, D.C. from May 11th through the 13th and we are hoping for her to bring back a win much like Plainville native Sarthwick Karnick did at the 2013 competition. 

Today's visit brings us on Good Friday, the Chrstian holiday which commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and is part of the holiest week in the Christian faith which ends with the celebration of Easter on Sunday. Today is also the start of Passover in the Jewish faith. Passover is an-eight day festival that commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. 

Today's visit also marks the anniversary of many geographically significant events in  history, such as:
In 1860: The Pony Express debuts giving way to the modern era of mail delivery
In 1865: The Confederate capital Richmond was captured by the Union in the Civil War
In 1948: President Harry Truman signed the Foreign Assistance Act, aka the Marshall Plan, that provided $12 million in aid to the countries in Western Europe to assist in their economic recovery after World War II
In 1974: 148 tornadoes hit the heartland of the United States within a 16 hour period, affecting 11 states and Ontario, Canada

If you would like to learn more about the events of April 3rd and any other day in history, fun facts can be found on the History Channel's Website, "This Day in History". April 3rd certainly is a busy day in history!