Social Studies department wraps up History Day
Students recount their experiences
Several History Day projects lined up inside Mrs. Kregness’ classroom. Students presented their projects in front of judges hoping to advance in the competition. Photo Illustration by Grace Farley
January 24, 2018
As sophomore Miriam Hope concluded her first History Day presentation, she said it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as she expected.
“History Day was a lot more fun, chill, and a lot more easy than I was expecting. I was expecting the judges to be a little more harsh, but they were a lot easier to talk too then I was expecting,” Hope said. “I liked how instead of drilling you on questions, we just had a conversation with them about your topic and showed them what you knew.”
According to IB History teacher Carley Kregness, History Day took place Jan. 17 and the students’ projects were graded by judges on a variety of criteria.
“60 percent of (the grade) is historical quality. What that means is (students are graded on) their depth and quality of their research, their analysis of their topic, do they understand (how to) argue a thesis and their use of primary sources to prove their topic support their argument,” Kregness said. “(Also) 20 percent of it is connection to the theme and historical significance.”
According to Hope, her and her partner had to heavily research for their project on the Berlin Wall.
“We did a ton of research. We had to find primary sources, secondary sources, and we watched videos on the topic, (which) definitely helped me the most,” Hope said. “Then we wrote our own interpretation on what we thought happened.”
According to Kregness, she received positive feedback coming from the students after History Day. She also said the presentations sparked some nerves in presenters, but they pulled through.
“Actually a lot of people were pretty happy about it, some were very nervous before it started and then really relieved when it was over. Some were really proud of what they’ve done, (but) a lot of kids think it’s cool because they can study whatever they want,” Kregness said.
Sophomore Amira Ali said, her first year doing History Day felt stressful, but she was relieved once it was finished.
“To be honest, it was kind of hard in the beginning—it was overwhelming,” Ali said. “(Getting) our results was the best part.”
