Washington History Day

How it all ended

After a week of camaraderie and fun, it's a little strange to be back in the office. Gwen, Mark and I are all going through withdrawal. Nonetheless, there's no denying that once again, Washington students did exceptionally well at the national contest. Below, the final rankings and some interpretation of the numbers.

1st place:
Simone Prince-Eichner, Junior Individual Performance, Prince Home School, Lummi Island
Samvit Jain, Junior Paper, Redmond Junior High, Redmond
Emily Hamlin, Junior Individual Exhibit, Sunrise Elementary, Redmond

3rd place:
Hillary Smith, Junior Paper, Sequim Middle School, Sequim
Rahul Devanarayanan and Nick Kodati, Junior Website, Redmond Junior High, Redmond

5th place:
Jon Fortescue, Junior Website, McKnight Middle School, Renton
Marlee Raible and Nic Jensen, Senior Website, Stanwood High School, Stanwood

6th place:
Shelby Woods, Michael Gant, Manny Estacio, Emily Molstad, Senior Group Exhibit, Bethel High School, Spanaway

8th place:
Trevor Consoliver, Junior Individual Exhibit, Sequim Middle School, Sequim

11th place:
Leigh Douglas, Senior Individual Performance, Inglemoor High School, Kenmore
Lauren Olson and Julia Roper, Senior Group Performance, Lynden High School, Lynden

13th place:
Nathan Maris, Senior Individual Documentary, International Community School, Kirkland

Now for the numbers: Washington entered 32 projects total; 16 in the junior division and 16 in the senior division. Each category has about 80 entries in the preliminary round; 14 are selected to advance to finals.

Twelve Washington projects, or more than one-third of our entries, made finals. Five won medals (which are awarded for first through third place).

Forty-eight total medals are awarded for the category awards (documentary, exhibit, etc.), so Washington students picked up 10 percent of the total medals awarded.

Three other states also won numerous medals: California (8), Minnesota (7) and Texas (5). Compared to Washington, those states have huge programs--I think the smallest has 35,000 kids participate (we have about 5,000). So Washington does very well in the face of some very stiff competition.

Of course, numbers are fun and it's exciting to see how well Washington did. Someone at the national contest called our state an "empire"--which stunned me more than a little. Regardless, the fact remains that all our kids represented Washington to the highest standards, and we were proud to accompany them to the national contest. They gelled as a team, savoring each other's triumphs and sharing each other''s setbacks. Ultimately, the relationships they formed will outlast the glow of victory or burn of disappointment. That's what it's really about.

Congrats, Washington!

Parting shots

I hated for the week to end.  The 2009 National History Day competition was a blur of humidity, button-trading, judge interviews, cafeteria food, costume changes, terrible coffee, and annotated bibliographies.

To close things out (because a very impressive thunder storm started while we were loading the bus, meaning I didn't get any photos of the grand departure), here are a few more photos from the parade and the awards aftermath.

Lauren & Julia during the parade of states.

Simone & Kelly after the awards ceremony.

Todd, Hillary, & Trisha enjoy Hillary's success.

Nic, Washington History Man, & Marlee.

Simone, Miranda, & Laura after the awards ceremony.

Simone verifies her gold medal really is different than her silver from 2008.

Shelby, Manny, Michael, & Emily can't hide their enthusiasm for their topic, the ACLU.

Team Washington gathers with their fearless leader, Washington History Man.

Signing off until next year,

Gwen

Happy History Day slave

All that glitters ...

... is gold and bronze for the Washington delegation this year.

After the parade of states, the awards proceeded as follows.

Hillary won the first award of the morning, 3rd place for her junior historical paper.  (She is followed by Todd, one of the 2 History Day teachers from Sequim.)

Hillary is congratulated by Dr. Cathy Gorn, Executive Director of National History Day.

Hillary after receiving her award.

Hillary and her teacher, Trisha.

Shortly after Hillary picked up her award, Samvit won gold in the same category!

Emily Hamlin and her teachers, Patti & Paula, descend the stairs to accept Emily's gold medal for her junior individual exhibit.

Patti, Emily, and Paula after receiving their award.

Emily poses with the Washington History Day sign (and her gold medal!)

Simone with her gold medal, for her junior individual performance.

It's always easy to spot the Washington delegation!

Rahul, Nick, and Kim Jensen (teacher) receive congratulations for winning 3rd place for their junior Web site.

Kim, Nick, and Rahul entertain Cathy Gorn before receiving their bronze medals.

Trevor, Marlee, & Nic, winners of the Washington outstanding state awards for their junior individual exhibit (Trevor) and senior Web site (Marlee & Nic).

Julia, Lauren (Olson), & Lauren (Danner) during the awards ceremony.

Washington's medal winners: Rahul, Nick, Samvit (no, we couldn't get him to smile), Hillary, Emily, and Simone with Washington History Man.

We are incredibly proud of our entire delegation!

Parade of states

The Parade of States is a History Day tradition.  Our delegation was, as always, led by our hero, Washington History Man.

Rather than try to recreate the madness, I'll show you:

Our t-shirts are hot commodities.  This guy from Guam was offering to trade!

Multimedia marathon

Wednesday's 5th Annual Multimedia Festival had so many participants it ran well into Thursday morning.

Some format changes may be necessary in the future, but for now, here is a recap:

The audience

The performers & presenters:

Nellie Bly (Libby Zorn) exposes a baby broker.

Jessie Benton Freemont (Abby Burlingame) talks to President Lincoln.

Jon introduces his Web site about Commodore Perry.

Nathan watches his documentary about the Missoula flood.

The queen (Leigh Douglas) in casual attire.

Clarence Earl Gideon (Simone Prince-Eischner) rails against bars only he can see.  (Simone didn't want to ship her props home.)

Justice is closer to balanced, thanks to Clarence Earl Gideon.

Lilly Adams presents her documentary about Picasso.

Miranda & Callie introduce their documentary about Eleanor Roosevelt.

Marlee answers questions about her & Nic's Web site.

Nic answers questions about his & Marlee's Web site.

Nolan Henry presents his documentary about Jesse Owens.

Stevie, Rylie, & Daniel introduce their documentary, entitled "Garbo: the D-Day Deceiver."

The whole gang--it's a good-looking team, don't you agree?

Washington makes waves

Washington students placed in 9 out of 16 History Day categories. Below is the full list of finalists (1-3 received medals at today's ceremony). Junior division: Paper Hillary Smith, 3rd place Samvit Jain, 1st place Individual performance Simone Prince-Eichner, 1st place Individual exhibit Trevor Consoliver, 8th place Emily Hamlin, 1st place Web site Jon Fortescue, 5th place Rahul Devanarayanan & Nick Kodati, 3rd place Senior division: Individual documentary Nathan Maris, 13th place Individual performance Leigh Douglas, 11th place Group performance Lauren Olson &a Julia Roper, 11th place Group exhibit Michael Gant, Manny Estacio, Emily Molstad, & Shelby Woods, 6th place Web site Nic Jensen & Marlee Raible, 5th place Go team!!!!

Dining hall fun

Kelly Snoden poses with her grits man masterpiece.

Heading home

The group loaded the bus and is on its way to the airport.

Award winners Simone Prince-Eichner, Emily Hamlin, Samvit Jain, Nick Kodati, and Rahul Devanarayanan are proud & excited and the whole delegation can use some sleep.
More from me later, including last night's multimedia festival and today's awards!
-Gwen

Bronze in junior website

To Nick Kodati and Rahul Devanarayanan of Redmond Junior High!

Outstanding state medals

To Trevor Consoliver of Sequim and Marlee Raible and Nic Jensen of Stanwood!