National History Day showcases Summit Middle student projects in Washington, D.C.

Jun. 18—Emma Taylor and Keira Krishnaiah delved deep into the diplomatic efforts of first female Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, becoming experts on her push for airstrikes to end the Kosovo crisis in 1999.

As eighth graders at Boulder's Summit Middle School, they used their knowledge to create a documentary for National History Day, winning first place at the state competition to qualify for nationals. The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame also gave them its Best Project prize.

"Madeleine Albright brought a lot of new ideas as secretary of state," Emma said. "She had to prove that women could do just as much as men."

At the national level, their project was one of two from Summit Middle School chosen to be featured in virtual showcases at cultural institutions in Washington, D.C. Their documentary will be available to view online through Monday at the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

The second Summit project, by outgoing eighth grader Claire Wellington, is a website on the Comics Code Authority and the debate over comic content and censorship. Her website will be available to view online until June 27 at Planet Word.

Their teacher, Anna Royal, said all Summit eighth graders are asked to participate in a yearlong project, with an option to choose among National History Day, STEM fair or a project of their own design.

The projects, she said, "put students at the center of their own learning."

She meets with students twice a month, guiding them in their research and helping them access materials. She also provides editing and feedback on their drafts, but said students are the ones who do the work.

"It's really amazing what students are able to accomplish independently," she said.

This year's competition theme was "Debate and Diplomacy in History." Students could choose from five formats — paper, website, documentary film, exhibit or performance — and enter individual or group projects.

For their project, Emma and Keira said, they chose a documentary because they liked the idea of combining historical videos with their own narration. They focused on the U.S. air strikes during Kosovo crisis because Albright's support of the strikes generated "a lot of debate and controversy."

"She first tried to use diplomacy backed by force, then used force backed by diplomacy," Emma said.

Added Keira, "We did think that she was successful. So many people were being killed by the ethnic cleansing. The air strikes caused a lot of damage, but stopped the killing."

While the project was a lot of work, they said, their interest in the topic made it easier to complete all the research. Working as a team also helped, with each partner contributing different perspectives and skills, they said.

"When we started, I didn't know how far we would go in the competition," Keira said. "It took a lot of collaboration and research. You really do have to get a solid foundation on your project. I'm really proud of us."

Altogether, three Summit projects are competing in National History Day, which occurred virtually this week. The third project, a paper on the friendship of Lyudmila Pavlichenko and Eleanor Roosevelt, is by outgoing eighth grader Natasha Uzdensky.

Colorado sent the top two entries in each category on to the national virtual competition. National winners will be announced at an online ceremony Saturday. The website is nhd.org/virtual2022awards.

Along with the three Summit projects, two other Boulder schools have projects in the National History Day competition. Southern Hills has three projects, one in junior group exhibit and two in junior group website. Fairview High has five projects, one in senior group exhibit and two each in senior group performance and senior documentary.