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Students Advance in National History Day Competition
Upper School History teacher Sue Longenecker released the regional results for the National History Day (NHD) competition this weekend. “We are so happy to announce that four projects have been selected to move forward to the NHD State Round,” she declared.
Those projects are:
Group Exhibit: The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 by Addy Santomassimo, Morgan Edell, Lexi Schnur.
Group Exhibit: Child Labor by Kristen Shindle, Lauren Markowitz, Sophia Kanowitz, Hanna Lee.
Group Website: Portugal's Trade Route to India by Campbell Abbott, William Pertsemlidis.
Group Website: Qin Shi Huangdi Unites China by Jackson Breaks, Jack Buckley, Kip Rand.
“Congratulations to this impressive group of sixth- and seventh-grade historians,” praised Longenecker.
The NHD competition has been a mainstay each year for Peck’s Upper School humanities program. Students in grades six to eight embark on group and individual projects, spending countless hours conducting research and building projects according to an annual theme set forth by the renowned non-profit organization based in College Park, MD.
This year’s theme, “Breaking Barriers in History,” challenged students to contemplate historical physical, natural, or ideological barriers that have been created or overcome with either positive or negative consequences. Within that broad theme, students follow a rigorous academic process involving five main steps:
1. Formulating a research question
2. Research and information gathering
3. Analysis of the evidence
4. Drawing conclusions
5. Packaging their projects
Each year, faculty members at Peck select particularly well-researched and well-presented projects to advance to the regional NHD competition. Regional judges have the authority to advance key projects to the state level of the competition. This year’s regional competition was particularly challenging for students, with the judges working from home due to New Jersey’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Those students with physical projects (such as 3D exhibits) had to meticulously photograph their work and submit it online.
The National History Day organization has pre-released its 2020 theme so students can use any downtime they might currently have to ponder next year’s competition. Longenecker plans to use the theme narrative, “Communications in History” as a discussion point with all her own students in her upcoming online “live” history classes.
THE PECK SCHOOL
247 South Street | Morristown, NJ 07960973-539-8660
Northern New Jersey's timeless and transformative co-ed independent elementary and middle school education for grades K-8.
The Peck School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.