By participating in National History Day, students in the Souderton Area School District are able to explore their interests and learn about history while acquiring life skills like teamwork, research, and writing.
The National History Day Competition has helped many students acquire necessary life skills and has given many participants the opportunity to learn more about history.
Indian Crest Middle School gifted teacher Joe Gunn has been advising Souderton’s National History Day students since the early 2000s, and he has seen many projects.
He said one project in particular that had an “interesting” topic has stuck with him over the years.
“One that really struck me was one about ‘War of the Worlds,’ an old radio report where aliens were supposedly attacking earth,” Gunn said. “One of my kids actually went up to the tower in New Jersey where it was performed and they actually found a technician that was alive at the time.”
According to Gunn, he loves when students bring their favorite topics into their projects.
“I love history, but what matters is the passion of the kid,” Gunn said. “If they like something modern, then [they] do something modern.”
Gunn has seen one student go to nationals with a paper on the Polio vaccine.
“He did a paper about the vaccine and his grandfather was one of the recipients, so that is why it was so important to him,” Gunn said.
Sophomores Julia Filice and Katelyn McNeely said they won regionals and placed third at states in their eighth-grade year.
They said the competition itself helped them develop their friendship and advance their acting abilities.
“We loved being able to put a performance together because that’s really one of our biggest passions. We love performing, acting, and it was all just so much fun,” McMcNeely said.
According to McNeely, more students should participate in National History Day.
“I think it’s a great way to learn more about history and to educate yourself more on topics,” McNeely said.
Additionally, Filice said that National History Day has shown her how history is connected.
“With NHD, they have a theme and you make a board or a performance based on the theme,” Filice said. “It really shows you how everything in history interweaves together.”
Both Filice and McNeely believe that National History Day is more fun than regular history classes.
According to Filice, it was “amazing” because she got more opportunities to learn and perform.
“With most history classes, you don’t get to choose what topics you write essays on. With NHD, we had so much more freedom with what we did and how we performed it, which made it much more enjoyable,” Filice said.
In McNeely and Filice’s last project, they decided to rhyme the whole time.
“We love to rhyme because it sets us apart from people and that we are in it to win it,” McNeely said.
McNeely also said that while the rhyming wasn’t hard, making the play was.