National History Day
Mercy Montessori has had a longstanding and very successful ‘history’ with National History Day! Since 1983, Mercy junior high students have been participating in the program and earning national recognition (click here to view our list of national champions).
What is History Day?
National History Day (NHD) is a non-profit education organization that hosts annual competitions at the regional, state, and national levels. It was founded in 1974 to encourage students in grades 7 through 12 to develop their research, critical thinking, and communication skills. Today, over half a million students from all 50 states participate in History Day contests each year.
We are grateful to Sr. Aloyse Gerhardstein for involving the Junior High in this program back in 1992. Since that time, Mercy’s Junior High has been participating in History Day every year by creating projects and attending the regional competitions.
Each year, there is a specific theme that each competing project must relate to in some way. Our students begin their project process by selecting a historical topic of interest. Their second task is to relate their topic of choice to the given theme. The theme for the 2018-2019 school year will be Triumph and Tragedy in History.
What does the project process look like?
Our students spend at least seven months of the school year on their History Day projects. The process begins with the selection of their topic and the relation of that topic to the given NHD theme. Each student is required to conduct research, write a research paper, compile a bibliography, and finally create a project to present.
Why do Mercy students participate in History Day?
“So we realize that in order to develop the individual needs to display effort, [he needs] to exercise himself and not be dependent on others. Now this independence is acquired only by an effort. Liberty or freedom is the independence acquired by one’s own effort. It is evident that this is a formation, a growth, therefore only acquired by long experience. It is the “valorization” of the personality, to become aware of one’s own value.”
-Maria Montessori, “Moral and Social Responsibility”
Participation in History Day helps our students to develop numerous skills, including research, writing, critical thinking, and communication. By the time they enter high school, our students know how to properly cite sources, organize research, create an annotated bibliography, and write a research paper.
Beyond the academic benefits that creating a History Day project offers, participation in the competition itself has a profound effect on the development of our students. Adolescents must be given opportunities to recognize what they are truly capable of, and the creation and professional presentation of their long-term research is one such opportunity.
Dr. Maria Montessori wrote about a concept called the “valorization of the personality”. This term refers to the solidification of an adolescent’s persona, and their realization that they are able to complete important, meaningful work. The structure and outcome of the History Day project allows our Junior High students to explore an interest, tackle large-scale research, create analytical projects, and present their hard work to educational professionals. All of these aspects contribute to their valorization by helping them acknowledge their value as independent, accomplished young adults.