A typical high school student will do dozens of school projects in his or her education years, but few of these projects will result in a trip to a national competition in a place like Washington D.C. Three Hastings High School students found out that there is one school project that is the exception to this rule.
During this past summer, seniors Alexis Moss, Kaela Evans, and Alex Melroy had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to compete in the National History Day competition. This was only the second year that HHS students have gotten past the district and state competitions to qualify for nationals.
The journey all started when they had to complete a research project for their American history class. They chose to finish the project slightly earlier and enter it in the district level competition at Hastings College in March. Their project was a ten minute documentary about the Little Rock Nine and their integration of Central High School in 1957.
All students must pass American history as a requirement for graduation, and to pass the class they must complete the research project. Entering the contest isn’t mandatory but is a good opportunity.
“Although the competition is optional, I highly recommend that students enter the project. If you have to complete the project anyway, you should try to get recognition for your hard work. Plus, the contest is a good experience in being interviewed and other real world skills,” American history teacher Ann Mays said.
It is also a good way to learn more about a specific topic. “You can take one thing and do an in depth study on it and it’s something you’re interested in,” library media specialist Faye Friesen said.
The National History Day competition has been around for decades. It is held every year in College Park Maryland in June. It has a theme each year. Last year it was “Explorations, Encounter, and Exchange.” This year it is “Taking a Stand in History.” If you are interested in the competition itself you can visit nhd.org for more information.
“I liked the theme. It worked really well for Little Rock Nine because they explored the integration of schools,” Moss said.
The girls were ecstatic when they found out they were bound for the national level, but they had not expected nearly as much success as they had.
“We were very, very surprised! To be honest, in the district competition we didn’t even think we were going to place just because we were very rushed in preparing for the competition,” Melroy said. Since they placed second at districts it was a shocking result for them to come out of state with a first place finish.
“We hadn’t seen that coming, and we were certain that we wouldn’t get to nationals,” Evans said.
When they did arrive in D.C. there were many more surprises and once in a lifetime experiences for them. Melroy, who considers herself a history buff enjoyed the historical side of the city the most.
“I liked all the history that we soaked up from the memorials and museums,” Melroy said. While there, the three girls and sponsor, Mays, visited all the sights on National Mall. They also visited several museums in the Smithsonian system. Since they were in D.C. for a week, they had a lot of time to enjoy the city itself.
“Getting a taste of the city atmosphere was really cool, and just kind of seeing how life on the east coast is,” Evans said.
Although there were many things to see and do while on the trip the girls made sure to put their best foot forward for the competition. There were two sections to the event: one where they simply played their documentary and another one where they were interviewed.
“I just learned not to be afraid when people ask you questions in an interview like that,” Moss said.
The most surprising part of the competition for the team was when they watched the judges get emotional as they viewed the documentary.
“We didn’t realize our documentary was that moving until we saw the judges tear up.” Evans said. Since they had been looking at the project from an analytical standpoint for months, it was as if they were desensitized to their own piece.
The girls did not place at nationals, but were happy they entered and gained the experience.
