Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Does anyone have experience with the National/State History Day competitions? I think that one of my sons would be very interested in this, but I'm having trouble digging out the info on the competition process and how a student registers. I did find a date for our region's competition. But I'm not finding a great cache of administrative guidance for the sponsoring teachers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharoninTennessee Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 My daughter has competed for the past 4 years and is hard at work on her project for this year. She's competed at the district, state, and national level and her desire is to make it to nationals again this year. National History Day has been her favorite activity in school. She's had a wonderful time creating the projects and has learned much not just from her research but from other students' projects as well. National History Day also opened up the door for her to have a week internship with our state Secretary of State. District competitions won't start until January or February and so they won't open up registration until a month or so before the contest. However, you can go ahead and contact your state or district coordinators and they'll send you a packet of information. I'm not sure what state you're in, but here's a link to our state page with plenty of helpful information to get you started including sample projects. If you scroll down to the bottom of the sample websites, you can see my daughter's website from when she competed at nationals. http://www.tennesseehistory.org/historyday.htm Let me know if you have any specific questions. I've worked with 23 students, 12 who made it to state and 5 who made it to nationals. It's a great program and homeschool friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Let me know if you have any specific questions. I've worked with 23 students, 12 who made it to state and 5 who made it to nationals. It's a great program and homeschool friendly. Thanks, this should help. I've really struck out with getting my kids connected with various STEM clubs and thought this was a program that dh and I would be better prepared to mentor, since it's more in our areas of expertise. I'll take a look at the projects to see what sort of calibre we're looking for. I did contact the district rep this morning. I'm hoping to hear back soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharoninTennessee Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Sebastian, Just wanted to let you know that the national competition is this upcoming week and starting Sunday you'll be able to go to the website http://www.nhd.org and check out the websites and paper entries. My daughter's website is in senior individual website and it's on "Ephraim McDowell", the doctor who performed the first ovariotomy in 1809 (or sometime around then.) After the contest they'll delete the links, but if you bookmark the pages, you can come back to them later. That's what we did and really studied the websites that won. It was VERY helpful being able to do that. Also, on Thursday morning, History Channel will be streaming the awards ceremony on their website. Even if you don't want to watch the whole thing, I would encourage you to watch the parade of contestants at the beginning. It's a really neat thing to witness, all the kids in their state shirts carrying their state flags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Oh cool thanks for the update. Best wishes to your dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJB Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 My daughter participated in 7th grade and made it to Nationals where she won the "Best of State" award for the Department of Defense schools. She participated through the DODEA school since she took German there part-time. We had a fabulous time. It was a great learning experience! I'd recommend going beyond your district sponsor and trying to connect with the state coordinator. Click on your state and you should get a contact name: http://www.nhd.org/Coordinators.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I want to warn you about something with NHD that I've seen here--parents doing it all. That's really sad that neither the local or state competitions pick up on that. Are the interviews tougher at Nationals or do they get away with that even there? We have only done one Junior level Regional competition--We saw some kids say in the interview things like "My teacher gave me my topic" and "I speak Korean at home, but can't read it, so my parents read the Korean websites to me so I could understand." The judges were interested in how (and if) the kids did their own projects. --Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) My daughter's documentary on Child Labor won third in our state last month. The documentaries have to be no longer than 10 minutes long. I think all the ones that I saw contained interviews with at least one "expert." They were basically montages of old photographs with narration and of course the interview segments. The best ones told a story, with beginning, middle, conclusion, and discussion about the future. My daughter worked on her documentary for many, many hours -- maybe 100? She revised it a bit after the regional tournament. The final result was really very nice, its style similar to the Ken Burns programs. The judges were careful to interview the students after their documentaries were shown. They were trying to assess how much the students really understood their subject. Doing the NHD project was an excellent learning opportunity for her. She didn't learn a whole lot about child labor (it was a subject she already knew about), but she learned a huge amount about how to put a documentary together. Several of her classmates are going to be going to the nationals next week -- one for a documentary and two others for a live performance. P.S. Want to add: One classmate got eliminated from the competition because she had a very famous "expert" in her documentary. The judges asked her how she was able to interview this person, and she said her dad worked with this person and had arranged it for her. She didn't make it to the next round, even though her documentary was extremely well-researched and on an unusual and interesting topic. I guess the judges in Virginia are sensitive to the parent issue. Edited June 9, 2012 by Rebecca VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) Dd15's essay earned her the title of district champ. She went to state in April. She did ALL the work herself although I proofread her essay. Great experience! ETA...I'm looking forward to when dd9 can participate in NHD. Edited June 10, 2012 by Beth in SW WA Typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJB Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I want to warn you about something with NHD that I've seen here--parents doing it all. It's not just from our small town either (though one family in particular probably are the worst in the state). We have a mom here who literally does all the research and writes the presentations. I suppose "she's" been successful as her children have gone to Nationals many times. However, if that bugs you, you might want to check out what the local scene is like. We have friends who have dropped because it's just too frustrating to the child. He just can't compete with Mrs. B! I just wanted to throw that out there. The interview at nationals is pretty specific and requires the student to show that they have mastery of their topic. I think, at that level, kids that are there as a result of too much help are vetted and eliminated. My daughter was asked questions for about five minutes by a panel of three "experts" at the national competition. And in any case, the process is what is important and not the winning. My daughter learned so much by doing her project. She stayed up all night one night more nights than one working on her project. She learned how to use iMovie. She learned about primary and secondary sources in a real hands-on way. She developed an annotated bibliography for the first time. And of course, besides the amazing learning that took place regarding the process, she learned a ton about her subject matter. Rather you're in it to win it or not, the process is what is important. It is the first time many students begin to understand what it is to analyze, research, and synthesize information into a cohesive project. Focusing on the outcome of winning and not participating because you fear others might cheat robs the student of what I think is a deeply rich experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharoninTennessee Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Just a proud mama update to say that at Nationals last week my daughter was awarded the Legacy Prize. http://creativity-found.org/legacy-prize/ Which means she's representing NHD along with representatives from the science fair, Harvard, some inventors contest, a school of the arts, and some music college. In April she'll go to DC for a reception at the Smithsonian and an awards ceremony at the Cosmos Club. Then they have a roundtable with Nobel Prize winners, Pullitzer Prize winners, and other recognized scholars. How cool is that? We were totally shocked when they announced her as the winner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 That's amazing!!! Many congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca VA Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Congratulations!!! You must be so extremely proud! What was her project? Oh, I just saw your post on page 1! Congratulations again! Edited June 21, 2012 by Rebecca VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 That is wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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