Every year, for one week in the midst of winter, the quiet depths of the library are transformed into a time-travel machine created by students. History Fair is a way for students to use their newfound knowledge to create a well-rounded project based on a historical event tied to Chicago.
History Fair has become an integral part of annual curriculum over the years.
“It allows students to delve deeply into a topic that interests them and helps develop skills in research, persuasion, historical analysis, and writing. It’s something that historians actually do,” said social studies department chair Christopher Kubic.
Students begin by picking a topic they are passionate about and research and compile information over the following months to create a cohesive piece.
“I chose a topic that I wouldn’t get tired of researching. My project was on the Cambodian genocide, and I chose it because I have always been intrigued with genocides and how it affects the world,” said junior Karina Garcia.
There are a few specifications for student’s projects, but for the most part they have free reign over their project choices.
“They really can choose just about anything that interests them, as long as its historical. In order to move on in competition, they have to relate the topic to Chicagoland’s history and tie in the History Fair theme, which this year is “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange,” Kubic said.
History Fair links students together over their similar workloads and helps them to focus on a topic they are passionate about.
“History Fair also tends to bond the class together as we’re all in the struggle at once. It’s rigorous, and the teacher gets to be more of a mentor and coach rather than the presenter of information, which allows us to develop our relationships with students,” Kubic said.
Students learn the time and effort that is required in order to create a project that will be judged and inspected at multiple levels.
“I have been working on my History Fair project since November of 2015. It started off as a small project, but it got expanded as History Fair was approaching. I hope to achieve, through my project, the satisfaction of knowing that I taught at least one person about a topic, such as the Cambodian genocide, that is not well known, and informing that person on how significant that event is,” Garcia said.
This year there have been more projects moving on to Regional Finals than ever before. Students and teachers alike hope to continue this success through the next levels of competition.
“So far we have 8 [going to Regional Finals], but some projects haven’t been judged yet, so we anticipate a few more. [The levels of competition for History Fair are] Regional Finals (all Chicagoland schools) in April, followed by State in May and Nationals in June,” Kubic said.