National History Day update from Jaynie Adams, AHS Tucson

Students from National History Day gave feedback on what they learned in the program: "photojournalism, power of words and pictures, skills to create a presentation, building website, how to entertain and be meaningful in a presentation, how to cite sources, time management, learn from my mistakes, self-accountability, how to create a project, why history is so important, lessons from the past, research skills." Thanks to Jaynie Adams at AHS Tucson, state co-ordinator for NHD, for showing us videos with these students. What a valuable program this is! A detailed report was given at the June Historical League Zoom meeting. Jaynie discusssed the incredible challenge NHD was for her this year, being the new director and Covid changing everything. She started out with a 40% decline in participation. Many of the students could not join because they were without high speed internet or home computers. The good news is the program ended up with 217 students at Regionals and 56 for the National Competition . . . all a virtual contest. National judging with a welcoming ceremony begins June 13. You can follow it on Facebook. As a professional historian, Jaynie related, "This is more than a history contest. It is History Education and could be used as a model for Elementary school history, teaching how to go from an idea to a thesis using primary source analysis. A big challenge is to get more Title 1 and homeschools and outlaying areas that don't have adult experts during project writing." Some support comes from micro-grants and gives actual classroom help such as covering registration fees, books or costs for the projects. The funds can be "game-changers for teachers." Many students work part-time jobs to pay for the materials to build their projects. More info at www.NHDAZ.org and www.nhd.org/affiliate/arizona The theme for 2022 is Debate and Diplomacy.