Charles City students advance to state in National History Day competition

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Seven of Ann Prichard’s National History Day students saw their hard work pay off last Friday as they all competed in regionals and were chosen to move on to state National History Day competition in April.

Students advancing are Emma Prichard, Brynn Roethler, Zach Sonne, Justin Falls, Jonah DeVore, Katie Prichard and Hannah DeVore. The student’s topics included Jack Trice, Nelson Mandela, Ola Babcock Miller, the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Social Security Act and the discovery of DNA.

The National History Day program includes a progressive contest cycle open to students in grades 6-12, beginning with the district contests in February and March, state contest in April and national contest in June.

A National History Day contest has several divisions, including documentaries, papers, exhibits and performances. Entries must finish first or second at a district contest and then do the same at the state contest in late April to advance to Washington D.C.

At National History Day in Iowa District Contests across the state, students compete for a chance to advance to the National History Day State Contest to be held in Des Moines.

Every year National History Day frames the student research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for the broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. The 2019-2020 theme is “Breaking Barriers in History.”

The theme was suggested by Nashua-Plainfield teacher Suzy Turner, who has taken students to national competition several times.

“She is a National History Day rock star, and a mentor to me when it comes to coaching it,” said Prichard, who is a Charles City Talented and Gifted teacher.

Charles City’s assigned district was at Waldorf College in Forest City. Prichard said that two of the Charles City students did historical papers, three did documentaries and two did exhibits.

The project by Emma Prichard and Brynn Roethler was entitled “Nelson Mandela: Breaking the Barriers of Apartheid in South Africa.” The project by Justin Falls was entitled “Social Security: The Program that Broke Barriers by Providing Financial Security to Working Americans.”

Zach Sonne presented a project entitled “Breaking a Japanese Stronghold: The Battle of Iwo Jima.” Jonah Devore’s project was entitled “Jack Trice: Breaking Barriers Beyond the Field.” Katie Prichard’s project was entitled “Ola Babcock Miller: Circumventing Political Barriers for the Benefit of Public Safety.” Hannah DeVore’s project was entitled “Breaking Our Genetic Barrier: The Discovery of the Structure of DNA.”

National History Day is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes the teaching and learning of history in middle and high schools around the world through a variety of programs for teachers and students. The largest program is the National History Day Contest. Established in 1974, the National History Day Contest encourages more than half a million middle and high school students around the world to conduct original research on historical topics.

Students present projects at the local and affiliate levels. The top two projects from every category are invited to the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park.

National History Day in Iowa is administered by the State Historical Society of Iowa, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.