Washington History Day

Washington Students Wow the Competition

Washington usually does well at nationals--we have amazing students who conduct thorough research and present it cogently and convincingly. But this year, well, this year was exceptional.

Each year 28 projects go to nationals, one from each category (senior individual performance, junior group exhibit, etc.). This year, 12 of our projects made finals--more than 40 percent. And when the medalists were announced, Washington really shined.

Bothell High School's Rebecca Smith won gold for her senior paper on "Big Hugh" Bennett and the Soil Conservation Service.

Ashley Hall of Stanwood High School won silver for her senior individual exhibit on the Triangle Factory Fire.

Katherine and Brianna Lacy won silver for their junior group exhibit on the Grand Coulee Dam.

And, remarkably, Redmond Junior High took gold and silver in junior group documentary: Anand Narayanan, Arjun Raghuraman, Anthony McNicoll and Jake Levin took gold for their film on the Great Seattle Fire, and Raluca Ifrim and Koyo Kim took silver for their project on Galloping Gertie.

Will Chan and Tim Tan of Shorewood High won the senior outstanding state award for their 4th-place documentary on China's one-child policy.

Helen Lee of Sunrise Elementary won the junior outstanding state award for her 5th-place exhibit on the Triangle Factory Fire.

Nic Jensen, Madalyn Schei and Emily Najar of Port Susan Middle School took 6th for their junior group exhibit on Pearl Harbor.

Finishing eighth in their categories were: Anya Eber (Bainbridge High School) for her senior performance on Mary Boykin Chesnut; Luke Jensen (Bainbridge High School) for his senior documentary on the Wilkes Expedition; Neil Carlson and Shona Voelckers (Stanwood High School) for their senior exhibit on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and Laura Harkins (Coupeville Middle School) for her junior documentary on the Triangle Factory Fire.

And, Bainbridge's Luke Jensen was the inaugural winner of the Benjamin Franklin Legacy Award, given to a senior student in the spirit of Ben Franklin. Luke will participate in a roundtable of American intellectuals next year, chaired by the 2008 Franklin Laureate, Meryl Streep, and will help select next year's Legacy Award winner. Even though Luke graduated last week, he'll be coming back to History Day one more time--and we are so thrilled!

Some pictures of the awards ceremony and medalists (remember, click on the image to get a bigger picture):

 

In the second and the last photo, you'll notice that we acquired a new superhero as of 2007--that's Washington History Man, who led the delegation during the parade of states and shared his superhistorypower throughout the contest. Thanks, Washington History Man!

To put Washington's showing in perspective, let me offer two facts: first, there are only 42 category medals handed out at nationals. Our students won more than one-tenth of them; and second, Washington placed third out of all states competing. Only Texas (7) and California (6) earned more category medals--and those of you familiar with History Day know that both state have much bigger programs.

We always say History Day is NOT about the medals, and that is still true. We are proud of every one of the 4,000 students in Washington who completed a History Day project. It's a big undertaking and requires dedication and focus well beyond the norm. They are all winners, and we're just privileged to get to work with them.

I'll be posting more pictures from the contest next week, including Wednesday night's performance festival in the dorms, the rain-soaked night tour of monuments, and more. Congratulations, Washington!

More Tuesday night frolicking

So what if it's 10:30 at night? So what if finals are almost over and everyone's kind of punchy? That's the perfect time to have an impromptu film festival, according to our students. Coupeville teacher Wilbur Purdue got his projector, someone hung a sheet, and the documentaries started rolling. The kids crowded in front to see each other's work, and then--a moment that the adults savored--started asking each other questions: about their sources, their objectives, their processes, their projects.  I called it a night around 12:30am, but I hear the fun went on until after 1:30am.

Tonight, after what will be a rain-soaked night tour of the monuments in DC, the students will return for part two of the festival: this time, the performances. So what if we need to pack and be at the awards at 8:30am tomorrow morning? This is way too cool. We'll learn about the Salem Witch Trials, Johan Gutenberg, Frederick Douglass, and more--and the fun part is that the performers and audience will probably be in PJs for the show.

It's been on-and-off thunderstorms here today, and it's raining pretty steadily now (I have pix from the film festival, but am losing wireless frequently and so I won't post them tonight). Mark and Rachel are each leading a bus full of students, teachers and parents through the Lincoln, Vietnam Veterans', World War II, Jefferson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt monuments, plus drive-bys of the Washington Monument, White House and Capitol. It's a momentous way to cap the trip.

Tomorrow it's off to the awards. We'll start by parading around the floor of Cole Field House, wearing our Washington History Day t-shirts (designed by History Day parent Bill Smith, whose daughter Rebecca is competing here in the senior paper category) and waving our Washington State flags. The ceremony starts around 9am and will last until 11:30ish, at which point we'll head for the dorms and the bus to the airport. Personally, I'm hoping for nice weather and no delays. Send good karma our way, okay ?

Tuesday night craziness

Most of the judging is over--so most of the pressure is off--and students are starting to let off some steam. Not just students, actually:

      

A rowdy group card game (no gambling, though).

The grown-ups indulge in a rousing game of pinochle.

The detritus of History Day.

On the far right, that's your faithful state coordinator working away--blogging, probably--as everyone else lets their collective hair down.

Finally, another great cinematic moment. Sequim's Dalton Ackley puts his performance talents to work with his version of Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle." Download the video: Download MVI_1011.AVI  That's it for tonight. We're getting ready for an impromptu documentary screening--and it's getting even crazier in here.

Three Senior Projects go to Finals

Matching the junior showing, three senior projects advanced to the finals at the national contest. Congratulations to:

• Bainbridge High School's Luke Jensen and his documentary about Charles Wilkes and the US Exploring Expedition;
• Bainbridge High School's Anya Eber and her performance about Mary Boykin Chesnut; and
• Shorewood High School's Will Chan and Tim Tan, and their documentary about China's one-child policy.

Senior finals judging begins at 8:30 tomorrow morning, and we'll be there to cheer them on! Just as with the juniors, we are so proud of all our senior student scholars--once again, they impressed us with their poise, their intellect, and their love of history. Congratulations to all the Washington students!

Senior Judging on Tuesday

Yesterday the juniors did the heavy lifting; today it was the seniors' turn. Our senior judge times overlapped, so the History Day staff split up to try to see as many as possible.

We all started with Sequim High School's Olivia Boots and Rachel Haugland, whose documentary on the polio vaccine set a high standard.

After that, it was an uphill run to catch Academy Northwest's Anna Dubnow in her performance about Theodore Herzl, whose activism helped pave the way for an independent Israel.

We headed across campus again, this time to catch Shorewood High's Will Chan and Tim Tan. Their documentary about China's one-child policy wowed the audience.

After a quick lunch break, Lauren caught Amy and Audrey Christianson's compelling performance about Johannes Gutenberg, which featured a set piece painted by Audrey and outstanding acting and research by both sisters.

Rachel saw Bainbridge's Anya Eber present her performance about Mary Boykin Chesnut and Luke Jensen (at nationals for the fourth time) present his documentary about the U.S. Exploring Expedition.

It was typical Maryland summer here today--hot, humid, and breaking into thunderstorms late in the afternoon. A brief rain preceded the ceremonial posting of finals (see next post), but spirits remained high--the kids are starting to get a little punchy now that most of the judging is over.

When we're not competing...

We're doing lots of other fun stuff!

   Washington History Day staff get to relax at the annual state coordinators' dinner hosted by the University of Maryland. Fresh blue crab cakes and ice cream made by the university dairy--plus a gorgeous sunset under the magnolia trees. What more could you ask for? Well, for Mark and Rachel, a glass of wine completed the experience.

National director Cathy Gorn--who visited the Washington state contest last month to celebrate our 25th anniversary--celebrated her 25th year with National History Day. Sporting a new cowboy hat with pins from all the participating states, Cathy's all smiles.

Washington staffer Mark Vessey--dubbed "our favorite superhero" by the History Day students--dispenses his hard-earned wisdom to students watching a DVD in the dorm lounge (it's the only air-conditioned space in the building): that's Dana Floberg, Brianna and Katherine Lacy (Canyon Park Junior High) and Rebecca Smith (Bothell High School) hanging on Mark's every word.

I don't know whether this link will work, but if it does you'll love it. This is our national-finalist-for-the-Farrell-Award teacher Todd Beuke diving into the fun (?) into the UM's recreational pool. Download MOV00631.mpg Don't worry--it's back to work tomorrow morning for senior judging.

Three Junior Projects Move to Finals

Not one, not two, but THREE Washington projects have moved on to the junior division final round at nationals. Laura Harkins of Coupeville Middle School wowed the individual documentary judges with her project on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Reports from prelims were that Laura was poised and professional during her interview with the judges....and on she goes!

Redmond Junior High continues its extraordinary first-year run. The school just started History Day this year. They went to regionals. They went to state, where they took 1st through 4th place in junior group documentary. Now, BOTH junior group docs here are going on to finals. Quite a year for Raluca Ifrim and Koyo Kim, with their project on Galloping Gertie; and for Anand Raghuraman, Arjun Narayanan, Anthony McNicoll and Jake Levin, whose film on the Seattle Fire of 1889 wowed the judges (I know, I was there!).

Those of you familiar with History Day know that exhibit and paper finals aren't posted, so we don't know who went on from those categories. But we do know this: we are enormously proud of ALL our Washington students. It's no cliche to say that they're all winners. We're privileged to accompany these extraordinary scholars to National History Day.

Turtles, turtles everywhere

The University of Maryland is a BIG campus, and it's swarming with turtles; the sports teams are the Terrapins, or Terps for short. History Day staffer Mark Vessey loves terrapins of all kinds, and has made it a point to see (and, apparently, photograph) every turtle on campus.  Here's some shots from his morning run (and yes, I know that one of these is NOT a turtle). The terp's name, by the way, is Testudo. And no, I don't know why.

More junior division students complete judging

The juniors wrapped up preliminary judging today and are looking forward to two big events tonight: the student dance (picture several hundred students crammed into a giant room, listening to music and wondering whether they should ask that cute guy/girl from Wisconsin/California/American Samoa to dance) and the posting of entries going on to finals. Based on what we were able to see today, Washington's projects look competitive, but as we tell students, making it to finals or winning a medal isn't really the point. It's the experience of being here--listening to Ken Burns, meeting people from around the world, getting into DC and soaking up our history--that is the real prize.

That doesn't mean we're not rooting for our juniors, though! Watch the blog later tonight for news on the finals round.

Redmond Junior High students Anand Narayanan, Jake Levin, Koyo Kim, Arjun Raghuraman, Raluca Ifrim and Anthony McNicoll celebrate after completing their judge interviews. RJH swept the junior group documentary category at the state contest--and it's the first time the school has participated in History Day!

Junior Judging Today -- Washington's Kids are Setting the Bar High

Junior judging is going on today all across campus. We're about to head out for the afternoon session, but here's some quick shots of Washington's wonderful junior contestants:

Sequim's Lucas Shores-McKinney performs his project on Upton Sinclair's expose of meatpacking plants in the early 20th century. You know it's going well when the judge is nodding during your performance!

Sequim's Dalton Ackley and Sara Hankins strike a pose before their performance on Frederick Douglass. They cited the recent Lincoln biography in their answers to judges' questions!

Madeline Camp, Katie Treend, and Anna Stewart of Pleasant Valley Middle School get into a zen space before their performance about the Salem Witch Trials. The judges asked how James Madison might have felt about the constitutionality of the trials, and the girls answered the question in part by citing English law. Can you say, "Wow"?!