If history is written by the victors, these students are making history!
Thirty-two Canyons District middle schoolers on March 7 were crowned winners of the District’s annual History Day competition, earning the chance to vie for cash prizes of up to $10,000 at the National History Day contest in Washington D.C.
A celebration of student scholarship, History Day tournaments challenge students to perform original historical research for a formal presentation to be showcased either as a museum-style exhibit, documentary film, live performance, research paper, or website. Hundreds of Canyons students compete annually at their school level, which culminates in the District level tournament. This year, CSD judges reviewed 63 entries around the theme, “Turning Points in History.”
“This is the social studies way of kids doing history,” says Canyons Social Studies Specialist, Scott Lambert. “It becomes something the kids are passionate about. They can rattle off all day long on this topic. So, it’s a really great way to get the kids to do research, look at what historians have to do, and give them the gusto and permission to research all different kinds of topics.”
The contest isn’t just for students who aspire to work in academia.
Union Middle School’s Ariana Evans is interested in forensics and chose to examine the history of criminal profiling. “There are a lot of layers to criminal profiling. I find it interesting how past experiences can change people,” Evans says, referring to the circumstances that lead ordinary-seeming people to become as notorious as the Mad Bomber of New York or Jack the Ripper.
For her, History Day was a chance to delve deeper into a subject she’s good at. “It just helps me learn better. It gives me more time to research subjects I’m interested in and learn about new things,” she says.
Delany Power, a seventh grader at Indian Hills Middle School, researched how she and other U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team hopefuls have been influenced by the iconic 1999 Women’s World Cup Team. “Many of the women who are on the national team now were watching the team back then,” she says, “So they were inspired and have since helped in many important social issues like equal pay.”
Power says the women’s team has empowered her to accept new challenges, like signing up for History Day. After all, she reasoned, if the soccer team can speak out in front of tens-of-thousands of people, she can do it in front of an audience of peers and judges.
“It’s important so I can get used to getting my voice out there and being heard, so that when I’m on the national team, I can be ready and anticipate interviews and actually playing,” says Power who is among those to advance to the National contest.
Congratulations to the following 32 District-level winners. High school competitions are still underway, and those winners will be announced separately.
Individual Exhibits
Sophia Davis, Indian Hills Middle: “9/11”
Delaney Power, Indian Hills Middle: “How the 99ers Changed Women’s Soccer”
Hazel Drechsel, Indian Hills Middle: “Papyrus, a Paper Project”
Michael Warnick, Indian Hills Middle: “The Mammals that Survived”
Group Exhibits
Adele Baudouard and Anabelle Niemela, Indian Hills Middle: “Abolishment of the Ancient Regime”
Cole Nordgre and Jesse Fisher, Union Middle: “The Space Race”
Alexandre Rinke, Aislen Dance, Daisy Augade, Aubrey Leetham, and Hailee Warner, Union Middle: “Stock Market Crash of 1929”
Keaton Cook and Oliver Cromar, Indian Hills Middle: “The Culper Spy Ring”
Papers
Chloey Baxter, Union Middle: “Discovery of Penicillin”
Ethan Robertson, Indian Hills Middle: “The Atomic Bomb that Ended WWII”
Quinn Profsky, Midvale Middle: “The political legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”
Henry Cutler, Indian Hills Middle: “The Treaty of Versailles”
Websites
Sophie Ackermann, Indian Hills Middle: “Wright Brothers Airplane”
Baron Bleazard and Grace Slagle, Midvale Middle: “The Effects of Title IX on Women’s Sports and Academics”
Performances
Boeri Cook and Charlotte Stokes, Indian Hills Middle: “Emmeline Pankhurst”
Alton Gerrard and Charles Mills, Union Middle: “The Dust Bowl”
Documentaries
Natalie Lambson, Midvale Middle: “The Extravagance of the White City”
Allison Rasch, Midvale Middle: “The origin of the Special Olympics”
Benjamin Koh, Michael Phan, and Rushil Vislawath, Midvale Middle: “The Cambodian Genocide”
Evelyn Powers, Midvale Middle: “Mia Jelicic”
