Students across the Chippewa Valley compete in National History Day Contest

Feb. 14—EAU CLAIRE — A nuclear meltdown, a trailblazing visionary, a devastating disaster and a triumphant movement — all of these things, and many more, changed the world at one point or another.

More than 90 middle and high school students from across the Chippewa Valley gathered Tuesday at UW-Eau Claire to commemorate the people, events and moments that defined history as part of the 2023 Regional National History Day Contest.

The contest, which returned to the university in-person for the first time in three years, featured student exhibits, papers, websites, performances and documentaries embodying this year's theme, "Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas."

"This is a great opportunity for kids to build skills," said Wisconsin's National History Day Coordinator Jessica Schmitz. "What they're doing is project-based learning, and it gets them involved in doing research, learning critical thinking skills. It gives them the opportunity to explore topics that they're interested in, which I think is a great way to dive into history."

National History Day is a nonprofit educational organization that offers year-long academic programs that engage more than 500,000 middle and high school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest.

Three contest finalists were selected from each category on Tuesday to advance to the State NHD Contest, scheduled for April 22 in Madison. From there, finalists will advance to the national level, slated for June 11-15 at the University of Maryland-College Park, Md.

Featured projects on Tuesday included exhibits on the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, Walt Disney, Laika the Space Dog and 28 others topics; documentaries on Operation Fortitude, 3D printing, the Golden Age of Advertising and three others; papers on Hmong genocide, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Nikola Tesla and six others; performances on Boudicca, Camelot, the Eau Claire Sawdust War of 1881 and three others; and websites on Apollo 11, Alan Turing and two others.

Aurora Rightman, a 17-year-old senior at Prescott High School, presented her exhibit on rock'n'roll icon Elvis Presley before the judges on Tuesday.

"I've had a fascination with him since the movie came out, and I love his music, and I felt like he had a big impact on pop culture and bringing music to everybody," Rightman said.

As a full-time dancer on top of her studies, Rightman said she had very little time to participate in school activities throughout her high school career.

That didn't deter her love for history, though.

"I finally got a break this year, and I decided I really wanted to be a part of this," Rightman explained, adding that she felt confident for this being her first time participating in the contest.

Her one regret, she told the Leader-Telegram, is that she didn't do it sooner.

Cara Fiedler and Bailey Spencer, both 15-year-old sophomores at Prescott High School, entered the contest as a team. Their exhibit told the story of Emma Goldman, a turn-of-the-century political activist, anarchist and writer who advocated for women's and worker's rights.

The pair said they spent approximately 20-30 hours on the project. This was their second year in a row participating together in the NHD Contest.

"We're both very drawn to history and everything it has to offer us now," Fiedler said. She pointed out the importance of learning about the past and applying those lessons to the present. Women's rights are still a topic of relevance today, she said.

"(The contest) really opens your eyes to what's going on right now," Spencer added.

Opportunities like the NHD Contest are also beneficial because they teach students how to properly research, annotate, cite sources and answer interview questions — all of which are valuable skills to have later in life, Bailey said.

Also present at the competition were students from Altoona Middle School, Anthony Acres Charter School, Augusta Middle School, New Richmond High School, the Prescott School District, Viking Middle School and the Wildlands Science Research School.

Scott Benoy, principal of Viking Middle School in the Baldwin-Woodville School District, said 29 Viking students were present on Tuesday. His students brought with them about 20 different projects.

According to Benoy, Viking Middle School has participated in the NHD Contest for more than a decade. It's an event the school finds "a ton of educational and social value in," he said.

"It's rigorous," Benoy explained. "Our eighth graders love to hate it, but I think they also see the value once it's done just because it incorporates research, project choice. They have to write, they have to present."

Benoy said Tuesday marked his first time attending the regional contest. However, Viking Middle School does host a school-level contest, where high school advanced placement students come and judge the projects.

"That's the other neat thing about it for us, locally, is that it incorporates more than one building," Benoy said. "And we get kids that had participated in this as eighth graders coming over to judge when they're in high school. So, it's just a good extension of their learning in social studies."

As the day rolled on, Benoy said he was proud of the work his students put into their projects. They did fantastic work, he said, and he hopes to see more students participate in the future.

Schmitz said this year's overall turnout was slightly smaller than previous years due to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she's hopeful numbers will grow again.

"We are so excited," Schmitz said. "There's been some great local history projects and some from other areas of Wisconsin. It's a fantastic turnout and we're super happy to see the kids back in-person after three years."