Students Make History At Mendenhall Middle School

From LVJUSD: In under ten minutes, eighth grader Katie Fogerson went through a multiplicity of transformations - Civil War-era paperboy, Irish immigrant, police officer, Abraham Lincoln – to tell a single story. Fogerson was presenting her National History Day (NHD) project as a performance, detailing the New York draft riots. Hers was one of about 450 projects that were finally being realized at the culmination of a months-long project by every seventh and eighth grader at Mendenhall Middle School. Each project represented months of research and preparation, requiring numerous sources.

National History Day is a nonprofit organization and academic program that focuses on historical research and creative expression for sixth to twelfth graders. Its goal is to allow students an opportunity to develop creative and contemporary expressions of history. Students presented their projects as websites, documentaries, exhibits, or performances. Regardless of the medium, the content of the projects was extensive, and the students put in a substantial amount of time and effort.

The theme for this year’s NHD was “Conflict and Compromise in History.” Project topics spanned from Jackie Robinson to Hiroshima, over centuries and continents. The variety and quality of resources the students employed provided abundant perspectives on each topic, based on primary sources from different people involved in the same event or conflicting historical accounts. The resulting projects were rich with biographical, historical, and anecdotal details.

“National History Day provides students with an opportunity to explore a topic in depth by researching, analyzing, and articulating a thesis and argument,” said Principal Susan Sambuceti. “There are so many Common Core skills embedded in the project, and it is a thrill to see students become empowered as they develop expertise and confidence in their topic.”

Roberta See, NHD Coordinator and Core teacher at Mendenhall, started coordinating the projects thirteen years ago. “When my son was in eighth grade, he did a project on the Mexican-American War,” she said. “It turned out he knew more about it than I did, and I was supposed to be teaching it.” By allowing students a creative outlet to express history, they were given an opportunity to incorporate their personal interests with an historical event. History came to life as students figured out how to fit quotes and recorded accounts into documentaries, or embody them in performance.

Fifty projects went on to the NHD competition, where students presented their research to judges who score based on historical quality, theme, and presentation. The impact of the program can be seen from the students in tenth to twelfth grade who return to the school to judge the competition. “The competition provides validation to students,” said See. “An important part of this is the attention that gets paid to their hard work.”

Twenty-two projects were selected for the County Competition, which takes place Saturday, March 17, 2018 at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland. “We are obviously proud of our competitors who progress to the county level (and beyond!), but we are also proud of the students who surprise themselves with what they have learned and are able to do,” said Sambuceti. “Seeing student documentaries, web sites, performances, and exhibits never gets old!”

Photos courtesy of LVJUSD