Area school youth to gather at CSC Student Center for annual Nebraska History Day

 This year more than 80 students from the district are competing in five categories:  exhibit, performance, website, documentary, historical paper. All entries are based on primary research conducted by the students.

Most entries are available for public viewing in the Student Center. The competition begins at 8:30 a.m. and will finish at approximately noon. The student work is judged by professional educators and historians. Entries chosen as one of the best in age division and category will move on to the state contest in Lincoln April 12.

For additional information, please contact Sarah Polak at 308-432-6066.

School students enter the competition at a local or district level with possible progression to state and national competitions. At the national contest, participants have the opportunity to win cash and university scholarships.

Last year, 15 students from the western district competed in the national competition in Washington, D.C.

Students in the junior division for sixth-eighth grade and senior division for ninth-twelfth grade can choose to participate in the contest individually, or as part of a group of up to five students.

The students conduct extensive research related to an annual theme and present their findings and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills while creating their entries. The theme is "Rights and Responsibilties in History".

In 1974, history professor Dr. David Van Tassel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio wanted to reinvigorate the teaching and learning of history in elementary and secondary schools.

What resulted was a one-day contest for students to showcase their historical research called National History Day. Over the next few years, the contest expanded and by 1980 National History Day had grown into a national organization involving more than two million people each year.

For more than 25 years the National History Day program has promoted systemic educational reform related to the teaching and learning of history in America's schools.

The combination of creativity and scholarship built into the program anticipated current educational reforms, making National History Day a leading model of performance-based learning.