Nearly two dozen Oklahoma students won an award at the National History Day competition. They were part of the 2,600 students worldwide in grades 6-12 who competed at the University of Maryland at College Park from June 10-15. This year’s theme was “Frontiers in History: People, Ideas, and Events.” The participants chose one of five categories for their project: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website.
The Oklahoma students who earned honors at the 2023 National History Day Competition are: First place nationwide in senior individual exhibit: Amanda Schoonmaker for “Forged by War: World War I’s Medical Legacy” (Canton High School – Penny Heath, teacher) Honorable mention in junior group website: Bridger Hursh and Preston Foster for “Freedom 7: The Final Frontier” (Canton Elementary School – Penny Heath, teacher) Honorable mention in junior group performance and recipient of WWII history prize: Brooke Pope, Brooklyn Green and Harper Jones for “On the Homefront: How WWII Opened New Frontiers for Women” (Canton Elementary School – Penny Heath, teacher) Honorable mention in senior group exhibit: Kylie Carrasco and Nadia Luna for “Sylvia Earle” (Canton High School – Penny Heath, teacher) National History Day is a highly regarded academic program that is studentdriven and fosters critical thinking. The cross-curricular program meets Oklahoma standards for social studies and other subjects. Each year thousands of Oklahoma students in grades 6-12 take part. The contestants advanced to the national contest after winning at Oklahoma National History Day, which was held in May at the Oklahoma History Center.
OkNHD is projectbased learning that focuses on historical topics related to a theme. Students conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources, students draw conclusions about their topic’s significance in history before presenting their work in original papers, exhibits, performances, websites and documentaries. Student projects are entered into competitions in the spring at regional, state and national contests, where professional historians and educators evaluate them.