Warsaw Students Win Second at National History Day
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Months of hard work and time paid off for three Warsaw Community High School students who returned recently from Washington, D.C., with second place at National History Day national competition.
The students took first place at the Indiana state finals in April to advance to the June 12-13 national competition.
Mayra Malagon, Moses Marandet and Vanessa Malagon competed in the senior group performance category with “The Montgomery Bus Protest of 1955-56.”
National History Day is a highly regarded academic program for elementary and secondary school students, according to the official website.
Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in the contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries, according to the website.
This year’s theme was “Revolution: Reaction & Reform.”
“It is super hard,” Mayra said of winning second place at nationals.
Vanessa said there are 10 to 14 people in each room, and two are chosen from each room to move from semi-finals to finals at nationals. There are seven rooms. Each room has students who placed first or second from their home state, territory or country, such as Guam and China.
Competition starts with about 100 teams in each category, advisor Nancy Rooker said.
To prepare for nationals, Vanessa said they practiced their performance in front of a multitude of people and groups. Their audiences then gave them feedback.
The team also talked to Fred Grey, the attorney who filed the lawsuit in Browder vs. Gayle that got the buses in Montgomery, Ala., integrated.
After the first day of the competition, Vanessa said, that night there were two monitors that showed which students moved on from semi-finals to finals. In the past, results were shown at 7 p.m. This year, they didn’t air until 7:40 p.m. so participants had an extra 40 minutes of nervous waiting.
“People were breathing down your neck to see if they made it,” Vanessa said.
“There was an explosion of cheers and tears,” said Dick Rooker, advisor.
The next morning, Mayra said, those who made it to finals had to perform in the main theater.
“They didn’t ask you questions this time, which was even better. You just performed and gave them your papers,” said Vanessa.
The papers included a cover page and process paper with an annotated bibliography and more. Dick said Warsaw’s team had 13 pages for their bibliography, which is one reason he thought they placed as high as they did.
“Audiences have no idea of the depth of research teams get into,” he said.
“They had a really good performance,” said Nancy.
During their performance at nationals, Vanessa said, “I wasn’t nervous, I was more excited. I love performing in front of people.”
Dick said the semi-final competition could have been a final competition as all the participants were really good.
The awards ceremony was the last day at the Comcast Center, University of Maryland’s basketball arena. With 2,800 students competing this year, plus parents and teachers, Vanessa said, the arena was pretty full.
They announced each category, starting with third place, second and then first.
“When you make the top three,” Dick said, “your state just erupts. It was a very cool experience.”
Crossing the stage to get your award, Vanessa said, everyone is looking at you.
“I teared up running down the stairs,” she said.
“I didn’t think we’d make it,” said Mayra. “I didn’t think we’d do so well.”
“It was really surreal,” said Marandet. “It’s hard to believe, I guess.”
For their hard work, the team got a silver medallion, certificate and $500.
Dick emphasized how hard the three students worked. The two girls started in September, with Marandet jumping on board in October. They read lots of books.
“What made theirs different was the quality and depth of their research,” Dick said.
Nancy said they put their emphasize on primary sources.
Dick said they addressed the theme well and had a thesis statement. Their presentation flowed and was dramatic. Their ability to answer questions in the semi-final round helped.
“They did the best they’ve ever done,” Dick said.
This was Mayra’s third year, Vanessa’s second year and Marandet’s first year of participating in National History Day.
Also competing at nationals was Madison Elementary School sixth-grader Daniela Cervantes. She was the youngest person from Warsaw to make national finals after taking first at state in individual performance in the junior division. Unfortunately this year, she did not advance from semi-finals to finals.
For her performance, Dick said, Cervantes portrayed Rosa Parks and also focused on the Montgomery Bus Protest.
“It would not have been possible without Dick and Nancy,” said Vanessa. “They put a lot of effort into us kids. We are very thankful to have them.”
