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!

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

2014 National Contest is over.

2014 National Contest update…

Hello Team WA fans! The 2014 National Contest is now over.

Team WA had a good showing this year, although not quite as good as years past. This year, we will be bringing home one gold medal and two special awards. You can’t win them all, and this year proves how tough the competition was nationwide. 

This year we had 9 out of 36 projects advance to the final round, 6 in Juniors and 3 in Seniors. In the preliminary rounds we did have 25 projects finish in the top half of their section, so a good showing there. 

MEDALISTS:

Gold Medal:

Jethro Abatayo and Jeffrey Logan Gibert, “Vietnam Prisoners of War: Taking Responsibility When Deprived of All Rights,” Irene Soohoo, Pleasant Valley Middle School.

FINALISTS: 

7^th Place:

Ally Orr, “Hanford Nuclear Waste 1943-2014: Seventy-one Years of Denial and Delay: a Disaster Waiting to Happen,”  Irene Soohoo, Pleasant Valley Middle School.

Carlisle Boyle, “On Foreign Soil…POW Rights to Habeas Corpus: A Nation’s Responsibility to Uphold the Geneva Conventions with the Changing Nature of War,” Maynard Garritty, Redmond High School. 

8^th Place:

Katie Orr,” DDT: Protect Today or Protect Tomorrow,” Bill Boniface, Donna Matthies, Northshore Junior High. 

Gina Svab, “A Dangerous Workplace: Triangle Factory Fire,” Alan Plummer, Northshore Junior High.

Leina McDermott, Mia Richards, Alina Liokumovich, “The Scenic Hudson Decision of 1965: Opening the Gates to Environmental Rights,” Mark Elliott, Mark Bach, International Community School.

11^th Place:

Deepthi Mohanraj, Virginia Qian, Andreea Ifrim, “An Empire for 250 Years: The Hudson’s Bay Company,” Liz Dunsire, Redmond Middle School.

12^th Place:

Simon Benko, “Fish-Ins: Non-violent Protests to Restore Native American Fishing Rights,” Irene Soohoo, Pleasant Valley Middle School.

Christine Donnan, “The U.S. Labor Movement: Rights & Responsibilities in History,” Lara Sukol, Shorewood High School.

SPECIAL AWARDS:

Colonial America or Revolutionary History: 

Deepthi Mohanraj, Virginia Qian, Andreea Ifrim, “An Empire for 250 Years: The Hudson’s Bay Company,” Liz Dunsire, Redmond Middle School.

Naval History Prize: 

Jethro Abatayo and Jeffrey Logan Gibert, “Vietnam Prisoners of War: Taking Responsibility When Deprived of All Rights,” Irene Soohoo, Pleasant Valley Middle School.

Way to go Team WA for another fun year and another great national contest. You should all be proud of your accomplishments this year and thank you for taking part.


Don’t forget, next year’s theme is “Leadership and Legacy.”


Have a safe trip home and have a great summer. See you next year.


Your wonderful and able-bodied History Day staff Mark and Hannah.

Happy Wednesday from the National Contest!

Senior Division Finals took place this morning and many Team Washington folks turned up to watch Carlisle's documentary.

Students enjoyed the day in D.C. and met up in the evening at the National Museum of American History for the "Night at the Museum" event.  Ally and her Junior Individual Exhibit served as Team Washington's excellent representative at the Night at the Museum student exhibit display.

In the evening, Team Washington gathered in the dorm lounge for snacks and socializing.

Tomorrow morning is the Awards Ceremony, where medalists and special award recipients will be announced. Mark and Hannah have decorated a section of the Comcast Center in preparation for Team Washington's arrival.

Happy Tuesday from the National Contest! More congratulations are in store for Team WA!

This morning, Senior Division students competed in their preliminary round and presented some wonderful projects.

 

Aaron, Alvaro, Oleg, Wyatt, and Oscar set 

up their props for their performance.

 Anna, Ezekiel, and Kylie prepare to show 

their documentary.

Team Washington Junior Division finalists showed their performances and documentaries again today in the finals round. The results of Junior Division finals will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Thursday.

 Katie gets ready to perform in the finals round.

  Simon sets up the backdrop for his performance.

 Senior Division performance and documentary finalists were announced this evening and Team Washington will be represented in these categories by Carlisle, with her individual documentary.

Congratulations, Carlisle!

Also deserving of recognition are the folks who make their way around campus to support their fellow members of Team Washington as audience members.

Parents, teachers, and students supporting Team Washington competitors.

Looking forward to another full, humid, and exciting day tomorrow!

Happy Monday, from the National Contest! Many congratulations are in order today.

Last night, Team Washington attended the National History Day Welcome Ceremony and finished off the night with a photo scavenger hunt around campus. Anna Wang, Sophia Hwang, and Lucy Jiang finished first in the scavenger hunt, followed by Kylie Ada, Ezekiel Dean, and Anna Davidson. Thank you to all students who participated. Your creativity in taking photos of the scavenger hunt items was certainly entertaining.

Today was the preliminary round of competition for Junior Division students and Team Washington did great! Finalists were announced in the documentary and performance categories and of the eight entries from Washington State, four entries (comprising seven students) have advanced to the finals round. Congratulations to Simon Benko, Katie Orr, Deepthi Mohanraj, Andreea Ifrim, Virginia Qian, Jethro Abatayo, and Logan Gibert! These students will show their performances and documentaries again tomorrow.

Team Washington joined the other Nationals students at a dance this evening and many students gathered together in the Team Washington lounge in the evening to talk about the day.

In news from back home, Jake Millman from Northshore Junior High was informed that he won an award at school for Perfect Attendance. However, as he is here with us in Maryland, he was not present to accept his award. Congratulations, Jake. The irony was not lost on us.

One last big congratulations to all of Team Washington's Junior Division entries who put in a great effort today. We're very proud of you all!

Jethro and Logan prepare to show their documentary.

Sophie and Megan set up their 

blackboard before their performance.

Anna, Lucy, and Sophia set up their props.

Vaishnavi, Suchi, Devika, and Ms. Dunsire came to 

support their schoolmates during their performance.

2014 National Contest Begins!

Welcome to the 2014 National History Day contest!

The weather is beautiful here in College Park, Maryland and the students are busy preparing for the competition and enjoying Washington, D.C.

Team Washington arrived on campus Saturday and Sunday, where many checked in to their dorm rooms in University of Maryland's Elkton Hall. Some students even managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing before the end of the day.

Sunday morning began with breakfast and a Team Washington meeting on the steps of Elkton Hall. By now, nearly all students have picked up their Team Washington backpack and buttons. Button trading is definitely in full-swing -- Washington students have managed to trade buttons with Arizona, Wisconsin, Guam, China, and many others so far.

Exhibit students have been working in the Stamp Student Union today to set up their exhibits in preparation for judging and public viewing. Performance students are ensuring that their props survived the trip to the East Coast and are rehearsing their scripts.

Tonight, Team Washington will meet for a Team Dinner and walk together to the Welcome Ceremony. After the ceremony, Team Washington will set off on a scavenger hunt around campus.

Junior Division judging begins tomorrow, so here's wishing all Junior competitors good luck and a good night's sleep!

Check back for more updates as the week goes on. You can also find Washington History Day on Facebook.