Eleven students qualified for the next level at the Regional competition for National History Day on February 25. National History Day, also known as the History Fair, is a contest across the country that allows students to learn about local history on a more independent level.
“Students work on their History Fair projects for several months. It begins with topic selection in October to November, with initial research in November and December. They then put together a working thesis with some evidence. This allows them to create a preliminary project. From there, they work nonstop all the way until the time of the History Fair to put together a finalized version of their project,” said US History teacher Tim Sermak.
Students learn how to make a research project at a higher level and allows them to learn history in a different way than what is traditionally taught.
“History Fair is really important because it teaches kids how to complete a long term research project and it gives them the opportunity to research something they’re passionate about. Students get to learn the significance of parts of history they may have never learned otherwise,” said junior Marley Przanowski.
Thirty six students from Grayslake North moved on to the Regional competition for the History Fair at Niles North High School. They competed with other suburban high schools in the area and learned more about what students chose for their project.
“Regionals was honestly really interesting because it was all people that are passionate about different subjects and that have chosen different outlets to express their interest. The judges were awesome and accepting of student’s reasoning behind their subjects and treated them with respect which I wholly appreciate,” said junior Rhaya Montoya.
Shayla Hertzke, Camryn Arroyo, Katherine Llanes-Smith, Jacqueline Barrera, Justin Schorn, Miranda Wilson, William Bauman, Nikitha Soney, Rachel Lozano, Grace Marino, and Molly Rutowski will all move on to compete at Sectionals on April fourth, the next level of competition for the History Fair.