by Eden Kreighbaum

The academic program National History Day hosted the local level of their annual competition featuring projects focused on the theme “Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History” last Saturday. STA juniors presented twelve projects at the Truman Library in Independence, and four groups qualified to advance to the state level competition.

The projects that competed in the NHD competition were from the annual junior interdisciplinary project. This year’s assignment used NHD’s topic although participation in the nationwide competition was not mandatory, according to history teacher Craig Whitney.

According the NHD website, students utilized primary sources for their presentations. Projects could be presented in a variety of ways including exhibits, documentaries and dramatic presentations. Professional historians and educators judged the projects.

The projects advancing from STA to the state level competition at the University of Missouri are: “Ain’t I A Woman: The Speech that Spurred the Women’s Rights Revolution” by Kate Sanders, “From the Sloppy Silents to the Terrific Talkies” by Ruby Dibble, Elena Spaulding and Menley Brennan, “The Expansion of McDonald’s” by Emma Stanfield and Alice Green and “Title IX” by Jane Evans, Courtney Coppinger and Kathleen Keaveny. The four projects were in the respective categories of exhibit group, exhibit and documentary.

Watch “From the Sloppy Silents to the Terrific Talkies” by Ruby Dibble, Elena Spaulding and Menley Brennan

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Whitney said that there were a a lot of great projects from the students.

The top two projects from state level competition will advance to the Kenneth E. Behring National Contest in June at University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.