At Dimond, a number of students went to the National History Day Competition on March 1 .

They created projects based off one specific topic, and they related these topics to this year’s theme, which was “Triumph and Tragedy.”

Two teachers at Dimond had their students create projects for this competition. One of them was the Dimond Social Studies teacher Mischell Anderson, and the other one was the Dimond Social Studies teacher Katie Lindsey.

Anderson said, “Dimond is the only high school that did it, and they mostly competed against each other. It’s the first time we have ever done it during a school day, and we have very high chances of making it to State.

“The winners at State go to Nationals for four days during the summer. It is actually very fun; I have been to the Nationals a couple times,” she said.

“Before, we used to have all 500 freshman do it, but the curriculum changed so we don’t do it that way anymore. We also used to have our own competition within Dimond, but that also does not happen anymore,” Anderson said.
Students did different types of projects such as a museum exhibit, website, paper, documentary or a play/performance.
Some of Anderson’s students who went to the competition included Dimond sophomores Jasmine An, Colin Kleckner and Isabella Stephens.
An said, “So I did my project with Anita, and we did a group website. It was about girls in the early 1900s being poisoned by radium paint by licking it when painting watch dials. Overall, the competition was pretty fun, and it was actually a nice experience to have.

“This year was my second year going as I went to it last year as a freshman. It was different this year because Dimond was the only high school who actually participated in the competition, but even with that, it was really fun to skip a day of school and present our hard work with our friends and/or partners.

“I made to state this year which was nice to hear as I put a lot of time and effort into my project,” An said.

Kleckner said, “I chose the museum exhibit project, and I originally chose Ellis Island as my project, but after the November earthquake, Mrs. Anderson suggested to my class about switching to the 1964 earthquake, which I eventually ended up doing. We arrived at the Loussac, and were divided up into different groups by our age group and type of project we did. Judges came around and looked over our displays, then asked questions.

“After an hour or two of moving through the displays, we had lunch, and they announced the winners of the categories.”

Stephens said, “I chose Ruby Bridges and I did an exhibit. When she was 6 years old she desegregated an all-white schools in Louisiana in the 1960s.

“Me and Haven Talbert (she was my partner) set up our board with all the other ones in a big room, then we waited for the judges to come and look at our board and answer some questions. Then, we had a lot of free time until the award ceremony. We placed third place.”
The students who made it to State will not need to present their projects again. In fact, they will not even show up for the state level. Their project goes on automatically, and judges will notify the competitors of the results and whether or not they will go to nationals.

Lindsey said, “The competition was divided into the project categories—individual and group exhibits, documentaries, websites and performances and individual papers. Each category was set up in a different room in the Loussac Library, and each student had a time slot with the judges.  

“The judges looked over the projects and asked questions, and then scored the projects on a rubric. We then had a lunch break with Moose’s Tooth pizza, and then an awards ceremony in the afternoon when they announced who got 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each category, all of whom will be going on to State.  

“The state competition is done electronically—projects are sent in online and judged, and the top two projects in each category will go on to nationals, which is in June in Washington DC.  I had 15 students participating, and Ms. Anderson (the only other Dimond teacher) had 20.”

Students who moved on to State in 10th grade were Jasmine An, Skyler Coleman, Samarha Howard, Olivia Kelzenberg, Colin Kleckner and Anita Koelsch.

Additional students were Stella Kvidera, Annika Ostberg, Hannah Pak, Anna Perez, Kaylee Reed, Kiley Schutte and Rylee Spencer.

Others included Alexis Stanich, Isabella Stephens, Tori Sy, Haven Talbert, Madeline Troxell, Vea Tungel and Danielle Young.

Students in 9th grade who moved to State were William Anderson, Elizabeth Diemer, Jonas Dimmick, Tatym Doucet, Genevieve Giles and Arwen Gustafson.

Along with them were Nizhoni Hiratsuka, Callie Johnson, David Kim, Rieluis Martin, Grey McLain and Jaden Nakata.