300 students from four counties to compete in National History Day regional event at UW-Green Bay, March 2

GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will host the Northeastern Wisconsin Region’s National History Day competition on Saturday, March 2, 2019, marking the 17th consecutive year the event has been held on the Green Bay campus. The 2019 National History Day competition will be held at UW-Green Bay’s University Union and Mary Ann Cofrin Hall. The all-day event begins with an opening ceremony at 9 a.m., with judging taking place from 9:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. Awards will be presented at the Kress Events Center at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and media.

The competition will welcome more than 300 students, representing 16 schools from throughout the region, with a total of just fewer than 200 projects. Students hail from public and private schools in a four-county area. Brown, Oconto, Outagamie and Sheboygan counties are represented.

In keeping with this year’s theme of “Triumph and Tragedy in History,” project topics include the Persian Gulf War, Freddie Mercury, Radium Girls, Vincent Van Gogh, Video Games, Clara Barton, Julius Caesar, Kent State, Space Race, Polio Epidemic, Newsboy Strike, Hmong Immigration, Lou Gehrig, Social Security Act and many others. Many of this year’s entries have a tie to Northeastern Wisconsin, including projects about the Peshtigo Fire, Fox Locks System, Joseph McCarthy and Black Thursday (a student demonstration at UW-Oshkosh). Some students focused on World War II topics by using the letters and diaries of their grandfathers to tell personal story connected to history.

“We are proud to have UW-Green Bay serve as host for this exciting academic competition,” said UW-Green Bay’s Coordinator or Archives and Area research Center, Deb Anderson, who is National History Day coordinator for the Northeastern Wisconsin region. “National History Day provides students of all abilities and interests an opportunity to learn about a topic of their choosing and present it in a creative way. I am impressed by the depth and range demonstrated by the students in their topic selection, research and final projects.”

For most students, the projects are the result of months of research. Nearly 400 students visited UW-Green Bay in order to conduct research at the UW-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center located in the Cofrin Library. During one research field trip, a student remarked to his teacher, “Best day ever! I have never done anything this cool in school before.”

“We are excited to be part of creating a strong passion for history,” Anderson commented.

Students can enter the National History Day competition in a variety of categories, including historical papers, exhibit displays, documentaries, performances and websites. They are required to use primary sources for projects, which often include interviews with individuals who have lived history.

Winners from the regional competition will move on to the state contest on Saturday, Apr. 13, 2019, and may have the opportunity to compete at the national competition in Washington, D.C. in June. On an annual basis, National History Day serves more than 600,000 students in all the U.S. states and territories.

In addition to students, families, educators and friends, the regional National History Day competition relies on over 100 volunteers, including UW-Green Bay students, faculty, alumni and community members. “The dedicated volunteers truly embrace the phrase ‘it takes a village,’” Anderson said.

For more information, contact Deb Anderson at the UW-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Cetner at 920-465-2539 or andersod@uwgb.edu.

About the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a comprehensive public institution offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs to more than 8,000 students with campus locations in Green Bay, Marinette, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. Established in 1965 on the border of Green Bay, the University and its campuses are centers of cultural enrichment, innovation and learning. The Green Bay campus is home to one of the Midwest’s most prolific performing arts centers, a nationally recognized 4,000-seat student recreation center, D-I athletics, an award-winning nine-hole golf course and a five-mile recreational trail and arboretum, which is free and open to the public. This four-campus University transforms lives and communities through student-focused teaching and research, innovative learning opportunities, powerful connections and a problem-solving approach to education. UW-Green Bay’s main campus is centrally located, close to both the Door County resort area and the dynamic economies of Northeast Wisconsin, the Fox Valley region and the I-43 corridor. UW-Green Bay offers in-demand programs in science, engineering and technology; business; health, education and social welfare; and arts, humanities and social sciences. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.

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