Duluth East students qualify for national history competition – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — East High School students who qualified for the National History Day Contest showed off their projects Wednesday afternoon as part of a fundraiser for their upcoming trip to the competition.

Every year, an estimated half-million students participate in History Day, a nationwide competition centered on the gathering and presentation of historical research. Only about 3,000 of the students make it to the national contest, hosted just outside Washington, D.C., at the University of Maryland. Four students from East will make the trip to College Park, Maryland, after earning top honors at the

Minnesota State History Day Contest. 

“These students, they’ve prepared throughout the year with their projects,” said Catherine Nachbar, an East history teacher and adviser for the school’s History Day club. “It’s fantastic work that they’ve done. … Some of them have very emotional connections — through family members or their own experiences — to their projects this year, and that’s just been a very cool thing to see.”

Each year, participating students are given a theme to build their projects around. This year’s focus is on “Rights & Responsibilities” throughout history.

There are five categories: papers, performances, exhibits, documentaries and websites. During the contest, students are divided into junior sections for middle schoolers and a senior group for high school students. Excluding the research paper category, students also have the option to compete in group or individual categories.

Over 19,000 students began working on a history project this year across Minnesota, said Nachbar, though not all went on to the competition. Twelve East students entered the regional contest this year, and 10 moved on to state, hosted at the Minneapolis Convention Center on April 27. There, two individual projects and one group project from East qualified for the national contest June 8-12.

At each stage of the competition, students go through several rounds of judging and an interview. Using a rubric, judges look at alignment with that year’s theme, evaluate students’ understanding of their topic, and consider project presentation and student research. Only the top two projects at the state competition advance to nationals. This year, over 1,000 students competed in Minnesota’s state History Day competition. Across all categories and sections this year, 59 students from Minnesota qualified for the national competition.

“It’s a big deal on your resume,” said Nachbar. “It’s like a less than 1% chance to make it to nationals, when you look at the numbers. Just to go and compete is amazing, but for those students who go and place at the national level, it’s really something else.”

Margaret Johnson, a junior, placed second at nationals last year with a webpage she designed on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. This year, she’ll be returning to College Park, Maryland, after taking first place at state, once again competing in the individual web page category.

Contributed / Duluth East High School

Johnson’s project this year focused on the history of mining and logging in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, with a detailed look at the impact of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Act of 1978.

“Prior to that act, there was a lot of pollution from logging and mining industries,” said Johnson. “But then the passage of that act banned mining and logging and other destructive things in the wilderness, and that made it a lot healthier and improved the lake water quality so that people, then, and today, and for future generations, would be able to hike and canoe in the wilderness without worrying about activities that would degrade the water quality and environment.”

Part of what students are judged on, Johnson explained, is their ability to demonstrate the short- and long-term effects of their research topics. Her project ties the 1978 legislation to current disputes around mining and logging near the Boundary Waters — something Johnson, an avid camper, is passionate about.

“I’ve really loved working on this, being involved in History Day has been such a great experience for me,” she said. “It’s helped me so much with research skills and writing and just talking to people. There’s so many connections that I’ve made because of History Day, and I’ll just forever be grateful for all the people that I’ve met. I had a great time in D.C. last year and I’m so excited to be going back.”

Johnson will be joined at nationals by sophomore Lyla Ronkainen and fellow juniors Analise George and Anja Erickson. Ronkainen took first place at state in the senior research paper category for her analysis of Wisconsin v. Yoder, a 1971 Supreme Court case that ruled in favor of religious exemptions to Wisconsin’s mandatory school attendance laws.

Contributed / Duluth East High School

George and Erickson also took first place in the group documentary category, with their film focused on mental health patients’ rights and the changes in how patients have been treated throughout history. Centered on President John F. Kennedy’s Community Mental Health Act of 1963, their documentary walks through the defunding of mental health programming under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and the current ramifications those legislative repeals have for mental health patients.

Part of the motivation for their project came from the experiences of George’s great-grandmother, Erickson said, who was institutionalized in Minnesota.

“During that time, things like electric shock therapy were still used. It could all be pretty traumatic,” Erickson said. “We wanted to make sure that her voice could be heard, and that’s when we chose this format, versus something like a paper where it wouldn’t necessarily be her words and story as much.”

Contributed / Duluth East High School

A newcomer to History Day, Erickson didn’t have much experience with putting together a documentary, and neither did George. The project came with a pretty steep learning curve for both girls, said Erickson, but it’s also been really rewarding.

“It’s made me think more deeply about the way that we treat mental illness today in America,” said Erickson. “It’s not really something that has presented itself to me before, so I’ve never really taken the time to learn about it. And I think that’s one of the really cool things about History Day, is that you’re kind of forced to educate yourself more on something that maybe you wouldn’t have thought about before.”

All three projects were on display during the fundraiser at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, with visitors able to stop in and check out History Day presentations and view the regular exhibits. It’s the third year the museum has hosted the fundraiser, with help from museum director Matt Sjelin, a former student of Nachbar’s.

“The mission of Karpeles is to inspire creativity and encourage learning, and so helping out with this is just such a good fit,” said Sjelin. “It’s a wonderful space, and it gives students the opportunity to show off the work they’ve been doing. It’s a great thing to be able to do for the community, and for Mrs. Nachbar.”

The National History Day contest is in its 51st year, but it’s possible the longstanding program could be going through some changes in the near future, due to recent funding cuts.

In early April, the Trump administration terminated a record number of grants from the

National Endowment for the Humanities.

Included in the canceled grants was $336,000 worth of funding to the

National History Day

program.

“The messaging that we’ve received from National History Day is that it is a substantial loss, and they are doing crowdfunding to gain back some of those funds,” said Sammi Jo Papas, head of National History Day in Minnesota. “The national contest this year will happen as planned … but beyond that, we have not received an update about what other funding opportunities they’re looking at.”

In some states, History Day is supported by funding from the NEH, but in Minnesota, the program is sponsored by the state historical society. The program operates on state support, donations and endowments for education, putting it in a relatively safe position after the recent cuts.

For the nationwide program and states that rely on state funding, Papas said there is likely going to be a discussion on how best to proceed during the board meeting that coincides with the national contest.

“Some of our other affiliates that also receive funding from NEH are also kind of looking to get through the national contest and then figuring out what things look like from there,” said Papas.

“We’re very fortunate. We have a solid level of support statewide, and a lot of that comes from our community and our teachers. It’s through their dedication that we’re able to have a successful program the way we do here.”