Stevensville students participate in National History Day contest

by John Dowd

Last Thursday, the Stevensville School District held its local entry contest for the National History Day (NHD) Contest. The event involves students from across the country, and parts of the world, creating themed projects that look back into history. 

Kate Kowal, the Stevensville Middle School secretary, spoke about her experience with the contest. “I love it, I think it’s such a cool experience,” said Kowal. She said the contest is not only a lot of fun, but gives students practice in research skills, public speaking skills and more.

This was the first step in the process, where students enter their projects and present them at their local school. After this, if students do well, they can go to Helena on February 14 to compete in regionals. From there the winners will go on to Bozeman in early April for the state competition. After that, the top two entries in both division and category have a chance at nationals, which are held in June at the University of Maryland, College Park. The top 3,000 participants from the United States and overseas will participate there. 

At Stevensville, seventh graders and high school sophomores are required to participate as part of their grade and curriculum. However, students from any grade, seventh through twelfth, could enter. Participants could enter individually or as a group, and in general groups were comprised of two to three students. 

There were over 50 presentations, and about 90 students, according to Wes Wells, a Stevensville High School history teacher and one of the organizers of the event. Wells said Stevensville has one of the the longest and largest participations in the area, from Darby to Missoula. Stevensville Schools have been doing this since 2019 and have even sent several youth to state and beyond.

There are two divisions, senior and junior, which are high school and middle school, respectively. 

Participants can enter in one of five project categories, including historical papers, historical exhibits, websites, documentaries and performances. Wells said the district had students compete in all categories in both divisions.

Kowal was a judge this year, one of about a dozen from the community. According to her, they used a rubric given out to all judges that will be basically the same across the competition, from the basic introduction level, all the way up to nationals. Students are scored on the overall appearance of the presentation, their bibliography and sources as well as how well they present and more. All of this revolves around whatever theme is decided that year.

The theme this year was “revolution, reaction and reform in history.” According to Kowal, the theme always revolves around turning points in history and students must create projects with subjects that fall within that theme and should be able to articulate how their subject fits with the theme. 

Kowal said she saw presentations about everything from haunted houses and serial killers to Black people’s struggles and women’s suffrage, and a few blew her away. 

The main thing they were looking for when judging was “how well did they prove that their topic addresses the theme,” said Kowal. One that stood out was a presentation done by two high school girls that presented on women’s suffrage. Kowal said, “They really knew their topic and how it fit the theme.” Another one she highlighted was done on rum runners and the beginning of NASCAR. 

One of the more interesting ones she highlighted was a presentation by Ethne Cheek and Jada Zarate. Both eighth graders, the two did their presentation on a famous wildland fire crew that died in a fire. “Their board stood out, for sure,” said Kowal.

Cheek and Zarate talked about their presentation and where they got the idea. They covered the death and aftermath of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots near Yarnell, Arizona. According to Cheek, she watched the movie “Only The Brave,” which featured the tragedy, and the movie hit home with her. Cheek said her father worked with the Stevensville Fire Department and was also a volunteer wildland firefighter for many years. Zarate was also excited by the topic and said, “I thought it was interesting and really matched the theme.”

The students said the Granite Mountain incident involved the largest number of firefighters to have died since 9/11. This occurred in 2013, and 19 firefighters lost their lives. Only one of them survived. According to Cheek and Zarate, this created outcry and a big reaction across the U.S. and in that area. There were numerous legal changes and now all firefighters are required to have a GPS tracking device. Yarnell also had to spend a lot of money to improve their radio system and local communications, and several lawsuits were filed. “My dad works in fires,” said Cheek. “It has been something my brother and I have always admired about him.”

The Cheek/Zarate entry was one that will go on to regionals. Both said they participated last year, when they were required to for a grade, but loved it so much that they decided to do it again. They are both big fans of history. Cheek said her favorite periods are WWII, Mesopotamia, 9/11 and the American revolution. Zarate said her interests are in prehistoric peoples, as well as 1960’s records and music throughout history. 

“It was just so much fun, getting to be around people who love history as much as we do,” said Cheek. 

Kowal said this happens a lot, and students often enter the competition several years in a row. “It’s just such a good opportunity for these kids to have their eyes opened to something they may not already be familiar with,” said Kowal. “It makes history come to life for these kids.”

Students are encouraged to cover topics different from the ones they are already covering in school, and often explore pieces of history they had never considered before.

Kowal’s son participated a couple of years ago, which was her first introduction to the program. She also went with a group that competed at the state level in the past and said they even made a trip to a museum there and more. “These are the ones that really stick with them,” Kowal said, speaking on their lessons and what these youth will remember from when they look back at their time in school.