Hello History Day Fans,

It's Tuesday in College Park, so you know what that means, S..E..N..I..O..R..S take center stage. The projects were spread out across campus and we were racing here and there to catch everything. The beauty of today was that it rained all day, now how's that for true Washington DC weather. (The "other" Washington that is :-) )

Our seniors really did their best and we are proud of each and every one of them. We have three senior projects moving on to finals tomorrow. A Senior Group Doc from Redmond High School, a Senior Individual Doc from Mt. Spokane High School and a Senior Group Performance from International Community School. Way to go Seniors!

Tonight we spent the evening cheering on all of our Junior finalists, fun, fun, fun!! Looking forward to Thursday morning to see how everything turns out.

I spent part of the evening getting our seating arrangements set up in the Comcast Center for our first awards ceremony in a new location. Take a look at the blurry photos below.

Time to call it a night here folks, enjoy and watch for more updates here tomorrow.

CONGRATS JUNIORS!!!

WOW, what a day for Team Washington Juniors today.

7 out of 8 projects have moved on to the final round!!  Way to go Juniors!!

For those of you that are not familiar with the program, competitors in the documentary and performance categories have their preliminary results announced at the end of the day as they have to know if they are going to have to present again. All other categories have silent finals, so we do not know how the rest of our juniors ended up today. Just hoping that our other 10 projects did equally as well.

A really big thank you to our teachers back in Washington. You give so much of your time, energy, enthusiasm, support and expertise to our wonderful students. The students wouldn't be who they are if it wasn't for you!

Another big thank you to our incredible judges that have continually provided our students with the best feedback and support in every level of competition. Our judges are simply the best, and it shows year after year. Today's preliminary results prove that!

What's even more impressive is some perennial favorites like California had 1, Ohio had 2, Minnesota had 3, and Texas had 6 advancing to finals. We're excited to have the problem of trying to see all 7 of the Washington finalists tomorrow evening.

We are also looking forward to seeing our seniors competing in their preliminary rounds throughout the day tomorrow.  No doubt that their projects will be outstanding as well!

I can't wait to update everyone on Team Washington as we hear back about our senior delegates and see our junior finalists compete.

Here's a few pics from today...

Hello WA Fans,

What a great day today! The temperature was great, low 90s with humidity to match. :-) The day started with a short team meeting on the steps of our dorm followed by t-shirt and button distribution. At that point several kids scattered in all directions to begin their button trading adventure.

I made my way to the exhibit hall for the morning to serve as room monitor. This also gave me a chance to watch the exhibit set up process and encourage Team WA to get their exhibits ready for the contest. See pics below.

Our delegation then left campus and headed into DC for a day of sightseeing, and touring. Check out our Facebook page to see more pictures of the day...

The day was pretty quiet on campus until the Opening Ceremonies this evening. I was the lone representative, but thankfully my WI friends helped cheer for the WA delegation.

The group spent the evening on a monument tour highlighted with stops at the WWII, Lincoln, MLK, Vietnam, Korean, and Jefferson.

News for this year's contest is that our Closing Ceremonies will be held in the air conditioned Comcast Center. This is a first for History Day and everyone is pretty excited about the opportunity to parade through Comcast while enjoying the comfort of AC. The only drawback to this plan is that there will be a limited window for seating assignments. As might guess, everyone is wanting prime-time seating. In honor or true fairness, the national office held a drawing tonight for coordinators. Numbers were drawn and coordinators will be able to enter the center based on the number in hand.

Every 5 minutes or so another 5 coordinators will gain entry into the center to stake out their seating section. As luck would have it I was able to draw for Oregon as they will be seated in our section this year as well. With that in mind, I was able to pull 37 and 50 out of the hat! Yes folks, we are going to be 37th into the center to set up our seating. By that time most prime sections will be lost and we will end up in the nose bleed section. :-)




Ohhhh wait, there's more...

I was pleading my case to my friend in Virginia and asking him to help me out by staking out a section large enough to hold the WA/OR contingent. He smiled and asked me how many seats I needed and when I explained I was looking for about 135 seats he handed me his number and said go for it.

We are now number 7 into the building to set up seats. :-) 
THANK YOU AARON!!!

Monday is a big day of junior judging, please watch for more updates tomorrow.

Happy History Day everyone.

:-)

Hello Washington History Day fans,

This update is coming to you live from the 4th floor lounge in Hagerstown Hall. We arrived early this morning after taking the red-eye through Atlanta and are now greeting members of the Washington delegation as they trickle in tonight.

The weather here is as you would expect for DC in June, hot, humid, and muggy! You couldn't ask for better weather. :-)

The day has been pretty good with only a minor mishap in room scheduling. The list that was sent ahead didn't translate too well with the college software, but after a few hours of corrections, all is well and people are now easing into their non-AC dorm rooms.

Button trading has already begun and kids are eagerly awaiting the arrival of more states to the contest. Watch for more updates on that front as they occur this week.

Been a long day here and we just have a few more door signs to hang before we call it a night.

Watch for more posts this week.

Team WA

Hello Fans of Washington History Day, we are getting closer and closer to the big national contest in College Park, MD, June 10-14. We have a lot of excited students right now getting ready for the big event, and this year we are traveling with a pretty good sized Washington delegation. Go Team WA!

Be sure to follow all of the action here as we provide daily posts and pictures of the contest and dorm life. You can also check us out on Facebook, www.facebook.com/washingtonhistoryday

Greetings fans of Washington History Day,

We are busily getting ready for the big National Contest, June 10-14 in College Park, Maryland. We hope you are as excited about the contest as we are! Should be lots of fun with several exciting features to the contest this year. But we're going to keep them secret for a little while longer.  :-)

Be sure to check back for more updates as we get closer to the contest and be sure to share this link with your friends and family so they too can follow Team WA in College Park!

:-)

History Day State Contest

Hello fans of Washington History Day.
We are now in the closing days of registration for the state contest. I hope everyone's ready!!

We are still looking for judges, if you would like to come out and judge, or know anyone that would be interested, please have them get in touch with Mark Vessey at mvessey@wshs.wa.gov.

Thanks and watch for more state contest updates.