Thursday, June 18, 2015

Awards Ceremony and Goodbye

Way to go, Washington students!

Team Washington was awarded quite an array of prizes at the 2015 Awards Ceremony, including special awards, scholarships, and even $5,000.00!



AWARDS:

White House History Award

Awarded to Julia Owens (Northshore Junior High) for her Junior Individual Exhibit


Outstanding State Entries Award
(awarded to two outstanding projects from Washington State)

Senior Division: Awarded to Erin Lee (Inglemoor High School) for her Senior Individual Exhibit

Junior Division: Awarded to Aashna Sheth, Sarah Yang, Valerie Chung, and Lauren Zimmerman (International Community School) for their Junior Group Exhibit


National WWII Museum's Salute to Courage Award
(This student wins a trip to New Orleans to study WWII and participate in the Grand Opening of a new wing of the museum)

Awarded to Vincy Fok (Liberty High School)


The History Channel's Award for Outstanding Entry on an International Theme
(This award comes with a $5,000.00 prize)

Awarded to Anmol Bajpai and Christian Culbert (International Community School) for their Senior Group Performance


Chaminade University Scholarship (This student is awarded a 50% college scholarship to Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii)

Awarded to Vincy Fok (Liberty High School)


Washington State also had 11 students in the finals round, all of whom placed either first or second in their preliminary rounds.

FINALS QUALIFIERS:

4th Place:

Aashna Sheth, Valerie Chung, Sarah Yang, and Lauren Zimmerman (International Community School for their Junior Group Exhibit


5th Place:

Peter Lees (Lakeside School) for his Senior Historical Paper

Julia Owens (Northshore Junior High) for her Junior Individual Exhibit


6th Place:

Erin Lee (Inglemoor High School) for her Senior Individual Exhibit

Lorrin Johnson, Issabelle Hayden, and Vincy Fok (Liberty High School) for their Senior Group Exhibit

Sally Rim, Lauryn Hepp, and Carlyn Schmidgall (Liberty High School) for their Senior Group Website


7th Place

Anmol Bajpai and Christian Culbert (International Community School) for their Senior Group Performance


12th Place:

Alina Herri and Taylor Caragher (International Community School) for their Junior Group Documentary

Jared Gee and Brenden Rogers (Timbercrest Junior High) for their Junior Group Website


13th Place:

Hannah Varghese, Grace Wang, and Maria Harsvik (International Community School) for their Junior Group Exhibit


14th Place:

Arushi Aggarwal, Grace Kim, and Meghna Shankar (Redmond Middle School) for their Junior Group Documentary


Congratulations to all participants from Washington State! You should all be very proud.

See you next year!

Mark and Hannah

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Senior Finals and Other Events

Students in the Senior Division had their finals round this morning. Anmol and Christian represented Washington State in the finals round of Senior Group Performances.



This morning, Hannah (Delta High School) represented Washington State at the Breakfast on the Hill program. Representative Dan Newhouse (who represents Hannah's home district in Washington State) joined Hannah at the event.


Representative Dan Newhouse and Hannah
(Delta High School) at the Breakfast on the Hill event.
[Photo: Newhouse staff]


Meanwhile, Issabelle, Vincy, and Lorrin displayed their exhibit on Edward R. Murrow at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The exhibit was on display all day, including the History Day Night at the Museum event this evening.

Issabelle, Vincy, and Lorrin (Liberty High School) with
Mr. Ken Behring, sponsor of the National History Day contest.
[Photo: JoAnn Olsson]


Many students took advantage of their last chance to enjoy D.C. today. Levi appears to have used his super powers to warp the Washington Monument!

Levi (Prosser High School) with the
Washington Monument
[Photo: Kila Salyers-Smith]


The King of Selfies, Mr. Boniface (Northshore Junior High),
snaps a selfie with Senator Patty Murray and his students,
Johnson and Beatrice


Of course, Mark and Hannah were hard at work today as well. Hannah assembled our state identifiers in preparation for the Parade of States tomorrow and Mark inflated the orcas for students to carry. Coupeville High School teacher, Wilbur Purdue, captured this video of Mark:




Team Washington ended the evening with snacks in the dorm lounge. Students, teachers, and parents all joined in the fun.

Folks from Redmond Middle School and
Redmond High School enjoying themselves


 The team from Pleasant Valley Middle School playing cards


Tomorrow morning is the Awards Ceremony -- fingers crossed!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Senior Prelims and Junior Finals

Phew! Supporting those Senior Division students sure does leave a person hungry!

Many Junior Division students from Washington came to watch Senior Division documentaries and performances today.


  Johnson (Northshore Junior High) enjoys a
noodle bowl in between documentaries
[Photo: Bill Boniface]
 

 Lauryn, Sally, and Carlyn (Liberty High School) after their
website interview
[Photo: JoAnn Olsson]


 Vincy, Issabelle, and Lorrin (Liberty High School) after their
exhibit interview
[Photo: JoAnn Olsson]


 Levi (Prosser High School) right before his performance
[Photo: Kila Salyers-Smith]


 Christopher (Lakeside School) with his exhibit


 Andrew (Liberty High School) before his
website interview
[Photo: JoAnn Olsson]


 Dhamanpreet (Liberty High School) after her   
website interview
[Photo: JoAnn Olsson]


Piper (Charles Wright Academy) presenting her documentary
 

Deepthi, Andreea, Virginia, and teacher Nick Wellington
(Redmond High School) having fun in D.C. after
showing their documentary


Junior Division finals took place this afternoon/evening and Washington State's two Junior Group Documentaries played their films for the finals judges.  Senior Division finals were announced this evening in the documentary and performance categories and Washington State is proud to be represented by Anmol and Christian's Senior Group Performance.

Anmol and Christian (International Community School)
before their performance on the Opium War

Mark and Hannah (assisted generously by Coupeville High School teacher Wilbur Purdue) manged to sneak away for a bit to mark off Team Washington's section of the Xfinity Center in preparation for the Awards Ceremony on Thursday.

Students spent the rest of the evening socializing, relaxing, and button trading.

Did we mention that Johnson (Northshore Junior High)
is only one or two buttons short of a full set?!



Monday, June 15, 2015

Junior Prelims and Student Dance

After a full, exciting day exploring D.C. yesterday, students in the Junior Division competed in their preliminary round today.


Mary Lynn (Pleasant Valley Middle School)
enjoying Washington, D.C.
[Photo: Rene Soohoo]


 Megha and Lillian (Redmond Middle School)
in costume for their Junior Group Performance
on Lucille Ball
[Photo: Liz Dunsire]


 The team from Redmond Middle School enjoys some
well-deserved ice cream after their interviews.
[Photo: Liz Dunsire]


Junior Division finals in the documentary and performance categories were announced this evening. Washington is proud to be sending two Junior Group Documentaries to the finals round. (Exhibit, paper, and website finals are not announced.)


 Teachers Rene Soohoo (Pleasant Valley Middle School)
and Mary Fitzmaurice (Explorer Middle School)
wait for finals results to be posted.


Congratulations to the Junior Group Documentary finalists:

 Taylor and Alina
(International Community School)
[Photo: Christine Caragher]
 
Grace, Arushi, and Meghna
(Redmond Middle School)
[Photo: Liz Dunsire]



The evening ended with the student dance. Mark and Hannah visited the dance to say hello to Team Washington, but Mark found the pop music confusing and wanted to leave as soon as Beyonce's Single Ladies came on.

Student Dance

Tomorrow: Senior Division Preliminary Round and Junior Division Finals!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

History Day Nationals 2015 Begins!


Welcome to the 2015 National Contest!

Most of Team Washington’s students, teachers, and families have now arrived here at the National Contest in College Park, Maryland. Around 50 teachers, parents, siblings, and friends have come along to support Washington State’s 61 National Finalists as they compete this year.

Today, most students made the short trip from campus into Washington, D.C. to enjoy attractions like the Smithsonian museums, Capitol Hill, the White House, the National Archives, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Exhibit students got ready for the contest by assembling their exhibit boards in the Exhibit Hall this morning. Exhibit judging takes place on Monday and Tuesday.

 Kassie and Bella (Bethel High School) with
their Senior Group Exhibit


Erin Lee (Inglemoor High School) with her
Senior Individual Exhibit


Julia Owens (Northshore Junior High) with
her Junior Individual Exhibit


Aashna Sheth, Sarah Yang, Lauren Zimmerman,
and Valerie Chung set up their Junior Group Exhibit


Several members of Team Washington attended the Welcome Ceremony hosted by the History Day National Office in the afternoon and performance students in the Junior Division ran through their presentations well into the evening in preparation for Junior Division judging tomorrow.


Megha and Lillian rehearse their Junior Group
Performance in front of their teacher and friends