After months of preparation and revisions, sophomore Raphy Gendler finally saw his History Day goals become a reality at the Metro Regional History Day competition.

Gendler, who qualified for the state-level History Day competition, said a lot of effort went into the final product he presented to the judges. He plans to continue to improve the presentation before state.

“I’m going to try and step it up a little and try and make it better so that I may have a chance to move on,” Gendler said.

Gendler was one of 25 Park students who qualified for the state competition at the regional-level competition March 23 at Augsburg College.

According to Social Studies Department head Carley Kregness, students are encouraged to continue to improve their projects before each stage of the competition.

“History Day has a process to help kids (revise projects),” Kregness said. “They get feedback from a History Day mentor at the Historical Society.”

Gendler said the entire process, from putting together to project, to presenting it at the competition, was a lot of fun.

“I enjoyed being able to learn a lot about a topic I was interested in but hadn’t been able to learn about in the past,” Gendler said.

Kregress said she thinks the students’ dedication has helped them be successful so far, and positions them well to progress even further in the competition.

“This year a lot of the groups that went, both sophomores and seniors, were really motivated to do a good job and do well and that right there improves their chances of making it from state to nationals,” Kregness said.

The state competition will take place Saturday, May 2 at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus. More information on the competition can be found at education.mnhs.org/historyday/.

Results from the Metro Regional History Day Competition

Honorable Mentions:

Ethan Brown, Danny Decker and Erik Anderson

Sammi Baer and Hannah Ellingson

State Qualifiers:

Raphy Gendler

Noah Smith and Angelica Sirotin

David Hope, Owen Shoger and Aaron Goodman

Jesse Schwartz and Ronen Pink

Nathan Kempf, Owen Geier and Eric Hickstein

Megan Aune and Anya Lindell Paulson

Aaron Councilman, Adah Koivula and Freja Olsen

Lauren von Eschen, Jayne Stevenson, Anna Roetheler, Marcie James and Emily Doss

Ori Etzion, Nick Harkness, Peter Johnson and Elliot Schwartz