I was introduced to National History Day (NHD) in the spring of 2010 when Tom Reich, Reference Librarian at UW-Stevens Point, asked me to serve as a judge for the North Central Regional Event. I loved the concept which allowed high school students to use a designated theme associated with history and then choose a subject of choice to which they could make a connection. After three years of volunteering my time evaluating projects, I promised myself that my future classroom would include NHD as a unit of study. When the opportunity presented itself to teach in Beaver Dam, our staff embraced it with open arms and every freshman student from there on forward has experienced it first-hand.Now in our fifth year of existence at BDHS, NHD continues to be a work in progress. I am often fascinated by the various topics that are chosen by students every semester, and I'm quickly finding it to be one of the true strengths of the program. Just recently one freshman selected Rosalind Franklin, an English chemist who contributed much to the understanding of molecular DNA. Last year this same student lost an older sister to a rare form of cancer that scientists are just now identifying ways to combat using Ms. Franklin's exhaustive work. Another student selected Eliza Schuyler (a/k/a Mrs. Alexander Hamilton) after discovering that she was a direct descendant, while also uncovering a story behind Schuyler's founding of the first private orphanage in New York City. Finally, when one young man was informed that his great-grandfather was killed during Japan's deliberate attack on Pearl Harbor, he immediately decided this would be his topic of choice.
Not every student will possess these personal connections to a historical event, but in their own distinctive way they have reasons for their choice. Their focus is on the man, woman, group, or subject connecting to "Taking a Stand in History" and it's an awesome experience to watch unfold both in and out of the classroom over the course of 5-6 weeks. At the end of the semester I ask freshmen for input on ranking their favorite units of study, and the History Day Project traditionally ends up at the top of their list. It requires plenty of extra time and effort on the part of a teacher, but the outcome makes it all so worthwhile. It many ways it's truly history in the making!
