Peck Seventh Graders Win Prestigious Maritime History Award
A pair of Peck historians have earned a prestigious award in this year’s National History Day (NHD) competition.
Addressing the competition’s “Breaking Barriers in History” theme, seventh-graders Campbell Abbott and Will Pertsemlidis designed a website entitled "Portugal's Trade Route to India." After advancing to the NJ state round of competition, their project earned the Junior Division First Place Award for Maritime History. The prize is sponsored by the National Maritime Historical Society, with the intention of encouraging and inspiring young people to study their maritime history.
The NHD competition, a cornerstone of the humanities program for Peck’s sixth- through eighth-graders, is an educational competition that engages students in the process of discovery and interpretation of historical topics. Students work individually or in small groups to present historical research on a theme-based topic in various formats, including exhibits, websites, documentaries, or papers. These projects are then evaluated at local, regional, and state competitions that culminate in a national contest every June.
This year, four projects by Peck students advanced from regional competition to the NHD NJ state round, though none moved onto the national level. Faculty members are already gearing up for the 2021 NHD competition, which will feature projects with the theme “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.”
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