H-B 9th graders head to NHD state-level competition

Every year in 9th grade World History, H-B students participate in National History Day. NHD is an international competition where about half a million students compete in two different levels in a variety of ways complying with the annual theme. I interviewed Dan Paris, who runs NHD here at H-B. When I asked him to sum up NHD, he described it as “…like a Science Fair but for History.”

All entries must connect to the annual theme, this year’s theme being “revolution, reaction, and reform” relating to the nation’s semiquincentennial (250th anniversary). While students must connect to the topic, they do not have to connect to all three aspects of it. However, if the topic involves all three then all three must be connected.

When I asked Dan about his thoughts on this year’s topic he stated, “The theme every year is always very broad. This really helps students find topics that truly interest them.”

The competition involves two levels, juniors for grades 6-8 and seniors for grades 9-12. As for project categories, there are nine different categories, four of them being group and five being individual. 

Out of the 100 freshmen doing the project, there are about 70 total projects. 18 total projects in all nine categories will advance onto districts, as at the school level they place either first or second. Districts include Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fauquier, Fredericksburg, Loudoun, Manassas Park, Manassas, Prince William, and Stafford schools. As for Arlington, H-B and a handful of middle school classes participate in NHD.

Districts involve entries from private and publics within the region, each in their own category to take the top three spots to go to states, fourth place being the alternate. This year, we will have three people representing H-B at the state level: Annie Minkoff and Blair Burke, who placed second in Group Performance, as well as Anne Wisniewski, who placed third in Individual Performance. Additionally,  Tatum Wielechowski and Erin Brown are state alternatives in the Group Website category. 

Several other Arlington residents will compete at the state level. Harper Horneman of Thomas Jefferson Middle School will compete in the Junior Individual Documentary category, and Madeline Winkelvoss, also of TJMS will compete in the Junior Individual Exhibit category. Finally, Ewran Hillary of Dorothy Hamm Middle School will compete in the Junior Paper Category at states.

The state competition will take place on April 26th for the Senior Division, and April 25th for Juniors at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond.