BSU Hosts Northwest Regional History Day Minnesota Competition

History can be one of the greatest teachers. It can educate generations with lessons of what once was, and can even inform how the world might move forward. It’s that educational spirit of history that has long led National History Day, a program where students become experts in a historical topic of their choosing.

“History Day is the ability for kids to do deep research into a subject that they want to,” explained Bagley High School social studies teacher Carol Bliss-Quinn.

“Students do primary [and] secondary source research and then they put together projects in one of five different categories,” said History Day program associate Bailey Hess.

These categories serve as a means of sharing historical information, whether it be through a written historical essay, a custom-made website, a documentary, or a traditional exhibit. These can often times lead to some truly creative presentations.

History Day also serves as a competition for students, where they are judged based on the historical information they were able to provide, as well as the quality of their presentations. Thursday’s competition, held on Bemidji State University’s campus, served as a regional competition for schools around northern Minnesota.

“After regional contests, the top qualifiers at the regional contest move onto state, and then the top qualifiers at state move onto the national tournament that’s in Washington D.C.,” said Hess.

Above all else, History Day is meant to be a chance for students to learn about a topic that they chose, giving them the freedom to share knowledge about a subject they have learned to become passionate about.

“It’s really nice because when they start they just have a general idea,” explained Bliss-Quinn. “And as you start digging into it, you can see their thought process and the kids who go through this process and write these projects and go through all of this have so much college prep skills, and it’s been wonderful.”

The qualifiers of last week’s competition will be moving on to Minnesota’s state competition, which will take place on April 22nd.