The finals qualifiers in documentaries, performances and exhibits for the Chicago Metro History Fair were announced on Thursday, March 6, on the Chicago Metro History Fair website.

In total, eighteen students were selected to advance to the Regional competition on Saturday, March 1, at Niles North High School. Of those who made it to the Regional competition at Niles, there were a variety of projects: exhibits, websites, documentaries, performances and papers.

Justin Webb and Nick Rodriguez’s group documentary, The Attempted Nazi March, along with seven other exhibits are advancing to the final Regional stage at University of Illinois of Chicago.

Many different people other than history fair teachers, including community members, retired teachers and college professors, volunteered to judge.

The theme of National History Day (to be held on June 15-19) is Rights & Responsibilities. Many projects like junior Cassie Reimbold’s project, Protecting History: The Fight to Preserve Adler & Sullivan Landmarks in Chicago, accurately portrayed that theme.

“My project focuses on the preservation of Adler and Sullivan buildings. I found out from databases that there were many of these buildings demolished in Chicago,” she said.

The project’s argument is the owners and the citizens of Chicago are both responsible to protect the Adler and Sulivan buildings because they are considered to be historical landmarks.

The only paper that advanced to Regionals was Vietnam and Its Effects on Chicago’s Anti-War Movement, written by junior Dan Linde.

“My research process was by far the most difficult part of my project. Finding legitimate sources was extremely difficult due to an insane amount of controversy surrounding the subject. However, I discovered that finding newspaper articles was the best way to begin. After finding a sufficient amount of evidence to create a basic understanding of events, I began my search for personal accounts of soldiers involved in the war. Once I found a sufficient amount of evidence to back my claim, I began typing up my paper,” Linde said.

Although documentaries and websites are assembled digitally, there is still a lot of work included into the projects.

“[There are] things like planning and writing the script, researching the topic and finding sources. For our [group documentary] we needed to look for information not only with our topic, but also the Holocaust,” Rodriguez said.

Regional finals will be held on Monday, April 28, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“The final competition will require students to add more evidence from the judges’ feedback. There would also need to be more in-depth primary sources to advance to State,” said history teacher Molly Lukavsky.

For now, the qualifiers eagerly await the finals.

“I feel excited because I have the chance to earn scholarships. My documentary will be seen by more people, and I can show people my skills with the film,” Rodriguez said.