Oregon Students Reach Finals At National History Day(R) Competition In Maryland (Photo) - 07/05/18

Portland, OR – Fifty-two students from across Oregon traveled to College Park, Maryland to compete in the National History Day® contest June 10–14. The students who qualified for nationals received first or second place in their category at the Oregon History Day contest organized by the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) on Saturday, May 5 at Concordia University in Portland.

Of the many exemplary projects that qualified for the national competition, two entries from Oregon made it all the way to the final round of the competition. Alan Zhou and Kyler Wang of Stoller Middle School in Beaverton (led by teacher Thomas Justman) placed fourth in the Junior Group Website category with their project The Pig War: Confrontation, Escalation, Arbitration. Anja Jolin of Laurelhurst School in Portland (led by teacher Lindsay Gebbie) placed eighth for her Junior Paper titled Confrontation and Negotiation: South Africa’s Transition to Democracy.

Each fall, the Oregon Historical Society kicks off the Oregon History Day program alongside over half a million 6–12 grade students across the country. OHS Education Manager Kristen Pilgrim works closely with educators throughout the state, and students use the OHS Research Library and digital assets like the Oregon History Project and Oregon Encyclopedia to conduct research on the annual theme. The 2018 National History Day® theme was “Conflict and Compromise,” and students can present their final project in the form of a paper, website, exhibit, performance, or documentary, and can work individually or as a group.

Beaverton’s Alan Zhou and Kyler Wang visited the OHS Research Library to examine primary sources for their project on the Pig War, impressing library staff with their conscientious care for the library’s priceless collections. “They surrounded themselves with old materials, insisted on handling each document with special gloves, and showed great focus and respect for our materials and for the library,” said Reference Archivist Elerina Aldamar. “They were probably here for four hours, totally engrossed in Pig War materials. It was a true pleasure to have them here, and I hope we served them well!” It appears that they did, as Zhou and Wang won the Global Peace Prize Special Award at the competition.

All National History Day® participants compete in the first round of competition, while only the first place winners from round one advance to the second finals round where first, second, and third place finishers are awarded medals. Students may also receive Special Awards in a variety of categories.

Other Oregon standouts from the National History Day® contest included:

• Leo Marchyok, Milo Lubin, and Thomas Pallister of ACCESS Academy (Portland Public School District, teacher Heather Kelly) placed second in the first round of the competition, just missing the final round by one place, for their Junior Group Exhibit, Spain Divided: Conflict and Compromise in the Spanish Civil War
• Colton Reynolds and Drew Nelson of Helix High School (Helix School District, teacher Lorin Kubishta) placed third in the first round for their Senior Group Documentary, West Is Sending an Army: The Copperfield Affair
• Hailey Cheon, Janice Lee, Jayden Gwo, Jenny Ni, and Rajvir Singh of Stoller Middle School (Beaverton School District, teacher Thomas Justman) placed third in the first round for their Junior Group Website, Ping Pong Diplomacy: How One Sport Brought Nations Together
• Geoffrey Gu of Sunset High School (Beaverton School District) placed third for his Senior Individual Exhibit Quarantine: Compromise in the War Between Man and Virus
• Outstanding Junior Division Affiliate Award: Anja Jolin of Laurelhurst School
• Outstanding Senior Division Affiliate Award: Geoffrey Gu of Sunset High School

More than a half-million students and 30,000 teachers participate in National History Day® annually. Through historical research on topics of their choice and interviews with multiple judges, students learn research and reading skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and self-esteem and confidence. For more information on National History Day®, visit www.nhd.org.

A full list of 2018 Oregon History Day participants can be found at www.ohs.org/oregonhistoryday.

About the Oregon Historical Society

For more than a century, the Oregon Historical Society has served as the state’s collective memory, preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, films, and oral histories. Our research library, museum, digital platforms & website (www.ohs.org), educational programming, and historical journal make Oregon’s history open and accessible to all. We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.