In Edgewood Middle School’s first time competing at National History Day, two teams places first and second in their category at state competition Saturday. They now move on to nationals June 15-19 at University of Maryland, eight miles from Washington, D.C. “This year has the widest diversity of state winners in terms of different schools that I have ever seen in Indiana. This being Edgewood Middle School’s first year competing, I am very impressed that they managed to take first and second place in Junior Group Exhibits – one of the most competitive categories in National History Day,” Matt Durrett, coordinator, National History Day in Indiana, told the Times-Union in an email Tuesday. On the first-place team from Edgewood are Morgan Smith, Matthew Harstine, Caleb Warner, Kylee Gudeman and Gabby Hamill. Their Junior Group Exhibit is titled “Intolerable Acts.” With their project “The 54th Massachusetts Regiment,” the team of Nolan Swihart, Kyler Bartol, Ridley Lemon, Sam Groninger and Marc Motter took second place. Three Edgewood teams had advanced to state by qualifying at regional competition Feb. 15 at Saint Mary’s College in South Bend. The state contest was at Marian University in Indianapolis and received a visit from Glenda Ritz, state superintendent of public instruction. More than 350 students competed in the state National History Day contest Saturday, according to a press release from Indiana Historical Society. “The first- and second-place finishers in each category of the junior and senior divisions are eligible to compete in the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest.” National History Day in Indiana is a year-long program dedicated to enhancing history education in elementary and secondary schools, the IHS release explains. Students in grades four through 12 explore a historical subject and then use their research to create imaginative exhibits, original performances, media documentaries, websites and papers. The 2014 theme is “Rights and Responsibilities in History.” “I was actually very excited because Washington, D.C., is a very cool place to see and it probably will look good on our resumes,” Warner said about advancing to nationals. Harstine explained their project, “Intolerable Act,” was about taxation of the colonies, focusing on the Tea Act, Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts. He said they chose that for their project because they were studying it in class and thought it would be a different topic than “normal.” “The hardest part of the whole project was probably shifting through all the information because we had so much we had to pinpoint all the topics we wanted to get across,” Gudeman stated. Smith said state competition was kind of nerve-wracking at first, but once they were in the room with the judges, it became easy to present their topics. She said the presentation and questions-and-answers lasted about 15 minutes with the judges. When announcing the awards, Hamill said, they started with third place and worked up to first. “When they called Edgewood for second place, I was doubtful we would get first place. They ended up calling us for first place. We were really excited. It was unbelievable,” Hamill said. When his team won second place, Lemon said, “I was really excited and I couldn’t stop thinking about going to nationals.” Motter said the “54th Regiment” was the first all African-American unit in the United States. He said it was cool how the men not only fought in the war but also for their rights. “It served as an inspiration for all of us,” Motter said. Swihart, who was unable to attend the state contest but did participate in regionals, said participants have no idea what questions the judges will ask. “You hope to give answers to the best of your ability,” he said. Groninger said the questions at state were more challenging than regionals. “The questions are more concise and to the point. You had to be more descriptive,” he said. Bartol wasn’t able to travel down to state, but when Motter told them they earned second at state, he knew he wanted to go to nationals. History teachers Tim Devlin and Mike Howard are the advisors for Edgewood’s teams. What put Edgewood over the edge to win, Howard said, “was the overall depth of knowledge of the topics.” The interview portion of the competition is the most important part, he said. “The fact that these kids were doing all of this in class with limited help, it gives them a knowledge to work off. They blew the judges away with their knowledge of the topics.” Devlin said the obscurity of their topics also set them apart from other teams. “I was really most excited for the kids. I knew the amount of time they put in it. I thought they deserved to win. I thought maybe top five for one of the groups, but not sweep the competition,” Devlin said. Howard said to sweep in their first year puts a lot of pressure on Edgewood next year. But he and Devlin feel good about the depth of learning that took place with the projects. Edgewood Principal JoElla Smyth said the trip to Washington, D.C., for nationals is a whole week of experiences. “They will actually compete the first two days, but then they get a chance to learn so many more aspects of the history of the United States and right there in the capitol. There’s tours, speakers and there’s a real opportunity for a learning week and that will be in June,” she said. Smyth said Howard and Devlin are already thinking about next year’s contest. “The seventh-graders will have an assembly and we’re going to talk to them about starting even this summer with their research. And next year I know we’re looking at branching out. What we did this time was like a tri-fold display. There’s different categories you can compete in and we chose that particular one, but we’re looking at expanding it into some of the other arenas, whether it’s videos or skits. If they start researching this summer, the kids that are highly motivated – we know a couple of them – we know will take the time this summer to delve into it,” Smyth said. National History Day in Indiana has been organized by the Indiana Historical Society for more than a decade and has played an active part in Indiana’s schools across for more than 25 years, with more than 4,200 Indiana students taking part annually.
