8th Grader From Burr Ridge Makes Illinois State History Fair

CHICAGO - Rianna Kingra, of Burr Ridge, is one of three Morgan Park Academy students to have advanced to the Illinois State History Fair finals. She and Olivia Fitch and Saanvi Malkani will represent the South Side Chicago neighborhood school on Illinois History Day in May after they were selected by regional judges as having the best projects.

Kingra's project studied how pioneering black surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams opened doors for other African-Americans by performing the first successful open-heart surgery in 1893.