Students delve deep on History Day

After months of research and preparation, sixth- and seventh-graders in the Quest program at Buffalo Community Middle School presented their findings in a Minnesota History Day event on Tuesday, March 4.

The theme of this year’s event was “Rights and Responsibilities in History.” Organized by the Minnesota Historical Society, the program challenges students to choose a topic related to the theme, conduct extensive research and present their findings through performance, exhibit, documentary or website.

“Our middle schoolers continue to impress me with the amount of work they put into this project and the quality of what they create,” said BCMS Quest teacher Danielle Kelm. “I feel like with each year of the competition, they keep leveling up what these projects can look like. Their work is nothing short of amazing.”

Sixth-grader Claire Neumann produced a documentary on the Grimke sisters, who advocated for the abolition of slavery in the United States during the 1800s. It was Neumann’s first experience with History Day, and she experienced a natural arc of emotions and enthusiasm during the rigorous research and production process that started in late October.

“I chose the Grimke sisters because I thought it was kind of cool how they fought against slavery even though they didn’t have to,” Neumann said. “At first it was like, ‘This will be so fun!’ In the middle it was like, ‘This is stressful. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m never going to do this again.’ And now by the end I’m like, ‘This is awesome!’”

Next-level learning
Students appreciated the opportunity to choose their own topics and mode of presentation. Asked what she enjoyed most about the assignment, Neumann said it was the agency that she was able to exercise throughout.

“It’s the control I have in learning,” she said. “It’s being able to do a hands-on project rather than being told what to do, and it’s kind of like you can do it yourself.”

While students learn research skills, how to make a thesis statement and other logistics like citations, annotations and bibliographies, Kelm said the History Day format lends itself to a much broader scale of learning than a simple textbook study and written report.

“In the past, my students used to write a research paper to address Minnesota’s English Language Arts standards, and they typically had an audience of just me as their teacher,” said Kelm. “With History Day … they put it all together in a project of their choosing: an exhibit, where they design the board and let their artistic skills shine; a website, where they learn how to format things like navigational buttons and image boxes; a documentary, where they write a script and work out detailed timing and transitions through the editing process; or a performance, where they’re the playwright, the director, and the technical director combined.

“They learn real life writing, research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, and their audience is far greater than just us as their teachers, and the depth of their research and writing skills are something they’ll carry into their futures.”

Bringing history alive
Several students opted to present their findings through short dramatic productions, changing costumes and props to represent the historical figures they had studied.  

“It was really fun once we started getting to memorize our lines and go through it and hear feedback from people,” said sixth-grader Hattie Crisostomo who, along with Rosalie Drew-Schmeling and Dorothy Karson, presented a group performance about the history of female athletes in the Olympics.

“We definitely learned how to research better. And we learned how to work together as a group and how to split time and parts evenly,” said Drew-Schmeling.

Sixth-grade Quest teacher Kathryn Bauernschmitt said students did an excellent job of choosing diverse topics and applying them to the year’s theme.

“I think the variety and quality of the projects overall was amazing,” she said.

Next steps
Regardless of the mode students chose to present their work, boiling down their research into a succinct product that was both informative and engaging was a final challenge.

“Putting their information together in a factual way with very tight limitations on word count or time is difficult for some of them,” Bauernschmitt said.

In addition to presenting to peers and families, students also received feedback from groups of judges in preparation for a regional competition on Saturday, March 29, at St. Cloud State University. Students can work to fine-tune their projects before then. The regional judges will determine which projects advance to state in April.

The projects below are moving on to the regional event.

Documentaries
•    “The Silence of the Bomb: The Partial Test Ban Treaty,” by Davis Kelm and Keon Mech.
•    “America’s Women’s Army Corps,” by Lucy Kolkind.
•    “Sarah and Angelina Grimke: The Sisters who Fought for Others,” by Claire Neumann.
•    “Choosing Democracy - The World’s Shift in Government,” by Will Umhoefer.
•    “The Copyright Extension Act of 1998: Disney’s Mouse Trap,” by Preston Young.

Exhibits
•    “Equal Rights for Women: Title IX,” by Chloe Alvarado.
•    “The Secret War of 1961,” by Scarlett Benzinger and Madi Isaacs.
•    “The Right to Fight: Female Spies in the SOE,” by Gigi Butler.
•    “Tiananmen Square: A Fight for Freedom, a Government's Response,” by LilyAnn Fix.
•    “Cleat Queens,” by Lana Hoffman and Violet Schuette.
•    “The Radium Girls: A Tale of Tragic Poisoning,” by Elsie Johanson.

Performances
•    “Women’s Olympic History,” by Hattie Crisostomo, Rosalie Drew-Schmeling, and Dorothy Karson.
•    “The Second Wounded Knee and How it Changed History,” by Henry Winger.
•    “How the Rights of Sentinels have Changed from 1921 to 2024,” by Bella Young.

Websites
•    “Flappers and Their Significance in Women’s Rights and Responsibilities,” by NoraMae Finke.
•    “The Anti-Tampering Act,” by Becca Fischer and India Keranen.
•    “The Minnesota Miracle of 1971: An Educators Miracle,” by Dallin Jerman and Karston Perkins.
•    “Astronaut Rights and NASA's Responsibility: The Challenger Explosion,” by Rebecca Koch and Annika Niemela
•    “The Homestead Act and How It Developed the United States,” by Aiden Topp.