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NHDC March Newsletter
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Contest Season is in Full-Swing!


Contest season is in full swing, and we look forward to seeing you at our remaining Regionals and the State Contest. We still need judges!
Register below. 
Director's Letter

Friends,

It is hard to write a letter for this newsletter without acknowledging once again the reason our state is in the news.  Some of you may know that I spent almost a decade as a classroom teacher at East High School in Denver.  They were some of the absolute best years of my life and many of my closest friends have come from then.  My son and nephew graduated from East in 2021, another niece and nephew many years earlier, and my youngest nephew in December of this year.  He chose to do so because he felt unsafe and worried about what might be coming.  Sadly, he was right, three times over.  

As we are an organization dedicated to the primary source study of history, I have provided three primary sources about ways we can understand and approach this sort of violence.  There are many, many heart-wrenching sources that are what we call ".orgs." But the ones below are the primaries.  Take a look.  It seems that most of us associate the beginning of this phenomenon with Columbine.  I did a quick search.  The earliest school shooting was in 1853 when a young man was angry at an excessive punishment given to his brother by a schoolmaster in Kentucky.  The schoolmaster was shot, and the young boy was acquitted.  Following that there is a robust list of school shootings until, ironically, a decline in 1990.  I'm sure that is not how it feels to any of us in Colorado.  Certainly not for those of us in the East High School community.  As I listen to everyone's answer, from gun laws to more mental health professionals to dedicated officers in schools, I have developed my own strong opinion, probably very different than anyone who might be sitting next to me.  But reading a post from a former colleague, a friend and a teacher at East, I found myself responding, "Amen. Thank you."

Here is what he said:  "Some of you have asked how you can help and this is what comes to mind. The string of incidents in our community are symptoms of much deeper systemic issues that are occurring in schools and communities throughout the entire country. If you are serious about wanting to help we need to put the politics aside, actually listen to what teachers and students are saying, and provide each community with the necessary tools and resources to be successful. And then get the hell out of the way."

We are all yearning for a time when these sorts of incidents are truly history.  I fear there will be no such time.  So, we need to work together to best understand the history behind them and to use that history to make critical decisions - exactly what NHDC is meant to teach.

Celeste

https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/Protecting_Americas_Schools.pdf

https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/preventingattacksreport.pdf

https://www.chds.us/sssc/

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame Reception Review


The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame had an amazing VIP reception last week honoring the Class of 2022National History Day Colorado was honored to serve as the host, along with Friends of Colorado Student Leaders Institute.  Our students facilitated the entire evening, passionate high school students sharing the stories of the CWHF Inductee portraits.  In addition, we launched our second K-12 National History Day Colorado Social Studies and Literacy Curriculum, this one written by Dr. Kelly Cvanciger, "Celebrating the Contributions of Distinctive Women."  It includes all 199 inductees of the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.  We are excited to launch the curriculum together with these fine partners and to share the stories of these women, especially during Women's History Month.

Enjoy a selection of photos from the evening:

Winners' Circle


Check out our State Qualifiers, updated throughout the spring.
From top to bottom, left to right: San Luis Valley, Charter, Western Slope, Boulder, Central Plains, Denver/Aurora, Pikes Peak.

2023 Remaining Contest Dates 


Greater Denver Metro--April 1
Pueblo/Southeast--April 1
Greeley/Northeast--April 1
Mountain April 1


Judging Registration for reamainhg Regional Contests Now Open!
We Need You... to Register to Judge the State Contest Today!


Now is the time to register to judge the State Contest! It takes over 200 judges and volunteers to keep the day running smoothly, and to make the event a positive experience for our incredible students. 

You do not have to be a historian or even a history expert to judge! We will train you, feed you, and we guarantee you will see some talented kids put together some amazing projects.



When: April 29, 2023
  •  7:30-1:00 for preliminary rounds judges
  • 7:30-4:00 for those who want to judge preliminary and final rounds
  • Noon-4:00 for those who want to judge final rounds only
  • Awards Ceremony is held at 5:00 pm and judges are encouraged to attend

Where: University of Colorado Denver on the Auraria Campus
Breakfast and lunch provided. 

*Professional development hours are available for educators. 

REGISTER
 
NHD Recruiting Judges for the National Contest
The National Office is recruiting judges for this year's National Contest, taking place in-person at the University of Maryland College Park from June 10-15. We encourage teachers, volunteers and all those interested and able to attend to register. There is no better opportunity than the National Contest to see the benefits of NHD and to be blown away by some incredible projects!

What to know:
1. First-round judging days are Monday, June 12 (Junior division), and Tuesday, June 13 (Senior division), from roughly 8 am-5 pm. Here are the key things to know about the logistics of first-round judging:
  • Website and Paper – Judges will receive entries in late May and finalize results during the contest.
  • Exhibit, Performance, and Documentary – Judges will receive written materials (process papers and annotated bibliographies) before the contest and will view and evaluate entries during the contest.
  • All Judges will use NHD's online judging system to complete evaluations and rank entries. 
  • Judges are urged to bring laptops or tablets to the contest.
2. Final-round judging varies by category:
  • Website and paper finals are launched the week before the contest with results pending any changes from the first-round teams after the interviews.
  • Junior performance and documentary finals occur on Tuesday evening, roughly 7-10 pm.
  • Senior performance and documentary finals occur on Wednesday morning, roughly 8 am-noon.
  • Junior exhibit finals occur either late Monday evening or Tuesday morning.
  • Senior exhibit finals occur late Tuesday afternoon.
  • NOTE: To be considered for final-round judging, at least one year of National Contest experience is required.

2. To sign up, please create a judge account here: national.nhd.org. This is different from the coordinator account you'll eventually need, so make note of your judge account login.
3. To hold spots for teachers and others, just let me know which day and category. Then, circle back to me after your contest to tell me who is taking the held spots.
4. Learn more on our Judge's Main page at national.nhd.org.
Student & Teacher Resources and Opportunities

Apply for NEH Professional Development Programs

NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators, higher education faculty, and humanities professionals to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $1300–$3450 for residential programs and $650–$1725 for virtual programs help cover expenses for these one- to four-week programs.

Find all programs listed here


Finding, Analyzing, and Constructing History: A Research Guide for Students
from Library of Congress
Student Guide
Teacher Guide


Hispanic and Latino Heritage History Resources
from EDSITEment and National Endowment for the Humanities
Guides available here.


New Resource Collection from Mt. Vernon
Explore collection


Inside the Vault Online Programs


New Digital Research Video Guides from Chronicling
NHD now has TWO new digital research video guides available to help young researchers — both novice and veteran — make full use of the Library of Congress's FREE online newspaper database, Chronicling America. The first video covers how to conduct a basic search, while thesecond demonstrates the "advanced search" function. You can watch these along with our other how-to videos via theNHD YouTube channel's "Quick Digital Research Tips" playlist!
Historical Tip of the Month

Patrick Real’s “Reading, Writing, and Researching for History” offers great tips on how to read and interpret your sources, as well as some handy structure and style guidelines.

(Courtesy of Southwestern University)

State Contest T-Shirt & Button Design Contests
This is a wonderful opportunity for students to show off their creative skills and design the t-shirt and/or button that will be given out to participants at the State Contest on April 29 and later be worn by National Contest qualifiers. Please complete the below questionnaire to be eligible.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
-2023 middle or high school NHDC participants (the contest is NOT limited to winners of regional contests).

DESIGN STIPULATIONS:
-Designs must be in relation to National History Day in Colorado and the theme, FRONTIERS IN HISTORY.
-Design must be ONE COLOR for t-shirt. 
-Design can include any number of colors for button.

Designs must be submitted no later than midnight on March 31, 2023. They should be emailed to nhdc@ucdenver.edu.

The winning designs will be framed and presented to the winner at the State Contest Award Ceremony.

Submit a Button Design
Submit a T-Shirt Design
Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks with Ken Burns
JOIN FOR A LIVE DISCUSSION WITH KEN BURNS: REGISTER HERE
Panel Discussion with the Organization of American Historians

Please join the Organization of American Historians for a panel discussion, “History on Trial: An American History Forum with Educators,” on Sunday, April 2, at 1:30pm at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum at the Japanese American National Museum.

From school board meetings to the halls of state legislatures and front-page news, the politicization of the teaching and writing of United States history is reshaping what can and cannot be taught in our nation’s classrooms at all levels. Rooted in the sentiment that there is only a singular narrative explaining the American experiment, past and present, these efforts seek to take us back to an earlier era characterized by a limited, celebratory vision that ignores the core conflict of our national story: that the United States was founded on radical notions of liberty, freedom, and equality, but built on systems of slavery, exploitation, and exclusion. Panelists will focus on the challenges of teaching and presenting history in today’s classrooms, public spaces and museums, debates over what and whose history will be taught, and lessons to be gleaned from “history wars” of the past. 

Moderated by David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University, forum panelists include:

  • Danny Diaz, Director of UCLA History-Geography Project;
  • Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, UCLA;
  • Karalee Wong Nakatsuka, Middle School History Teacher, 2019 Gilder Lehrman CA History Teacher of the Year, author of Bring History and Civics to Life;
  • Orlando R. Serrano Jr., Manager, Youth and Teacher Programs, Smithsonian National Museum of American History; and
  • Lynn Yamasaki, Director of Education at the Japanese American National Museum.

This forum honors the late Gary B. Nash — former president of the Organization of American Historians and staunch defender of teaching history in all its complexity. The event is co-sponsored by UCLA Department of History, Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History, the Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair of History, and the Joyce Appleby Endowed Chair of America in the World.

The event will also be livestreamed. To register for the livestream visit: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ex9dJhBlSmW404U1ot0_nQ.

Save the Date
April 29, 2023
State Contest
A Few More Things...
2023 Theme: Frontier in History: People, Places, & Ideas


2023 Theme Poster
Theme Book
Theme Graphic Organizer
 
National History in Colorado
University of Colorado Denver
Campus Box 182 | PO Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217
p: 303-315-1789
e:nhdc@ucdenver.edu






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