Winners of the 2009 District 5 Michigan History Day Competition
Young Historians Compete on National History Day
165 students from three counties gather at Delta College Planetarium
March 21, 2009
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By: Stephen Kent
Kellie Rankey, Arianna Whigman, Erica Rudy
and Ali Miller take a last minute look
at their Vincent Van Gogh web site.
130 Students from Bay, Saginaw and Gladwin county schools gathered at the Delta College Planetarium and Learning Center to show their stuff as they competed in the Michigan History Day competition as part of the National History Day program.
The competition is sponsored by the Michigan Historic Society. Michigan District 5 includes Arenac, Bay, Clare, Gladwin, Isabella, Midland and Saginaw counties and is coordinated by the Bay County Historic Society under the leadership of Corrine Bloomfield.
History Day students can compete with research papers, exhibits, dramatic performances, documentaries, and web sites. They choose a topic or subject and do extensive research throughout the school year. Students may compete individually or as teams.
Research may focus on a historical period, event, individual or group that relates to the annual theme, which for 2009 is "The Individual in History". A number of resources, as well as the student's teachers, provide guidance and suggestions to help the students prepare.
Students compete in a Junior division (grades 6, 7 and 8) and Senior division(grades 9, 10, 11 and 12). Michigan also holds a Youth division for grades 4 and 5 which does not advance to the Nationals.
Abby Sniecinski shows her Helen Keller
web site to Judge Eric Jylha
Students present their work to a team of three judges for their category. They are scored on historical quality, relation to theme, and clarity of presentation. Judges may ask questions and will offer comments on the student's scoring sheet.
Winners at the regional level had the opportunity to advance to the state competition. Using the judges score sheets and comments these students can refine their presentation for the state level scheduled for April 25. State winners can advance to the National competition held in June at the University of Maryland near Washington D.C.
Organizers estimate that over 5,000 Michigan students participated in this year's competition. Some schools hold preliminary competitions before the regional event. Last year District 5 had about 60 students compete. Thirteen of those who advanced to the state level won there.
This year's 130 competitors doubled the size of the District 5 competition over last year. Over 30 volunteers staffed the event and provided judging. The event started at 8:30 am with the first presentations at 9:30. The day was wrapped up with an awards ceremony at 4:00 pm.
2009 District 5 Michigan History Day Winners
Special Awards
Best Entry, Family History
"An Unlikely Hero" by: Erika Wilson
Best Entry, Great Lakes Maritime History
"Captain Benjamin Boutell" by: Brandi Middleton
Best Entry, Use of Primary Resources
"I'm Being Drafted? Kenneth DeFrain" by: Brehanna Ramos
Best Entry, Use of Women?s History
"My Oma's Life: Christina Speidel" by: Krystal Schaible
Exhibits:
Junior Group Exhibits
The Amazing Inventor, Thomas Savery
Madaline Hughes, Marissa Doyen, Liberty Collins
Joan of Arc
Monique Taylor, Latavioana Brown, Patience Hoig
Coco Chanel
Madison Baker, Olivia Moulthrop
Youth Exhibits Group
Motown and Berry Gordy, Jr.
Kelsey Blossey, Jennifer Tomczak, Kasandra Chesterfield
Junior Exhibits Individual
Lincoln's Past
Autumn Gibboney
Madam President: Can it Be Reality? The Story of Hillary Clinton
Tayler Horning
The Life and History of Helen Keller
Amber Tilley
Youth Exhibits Individual
Walt Disney's Life
Joshua Lipinski
The 16th President, Abe Lincoln
Anthony DeCatur
John Hancock, First Signer Joe Cooley
Senior Exhibits Individual
Andrew Carnegie
Caroline Asiala
John F. Kennedy
Kaylee Goss
Senior Exhibits Group
Henry Ford
Carly Chorba, Preston Dufresne, Alejandro Mata, Lauren O'Connor
Ray Croc
Meaghan Kukla, Connor Lemiesz, Mallory McFarland
Hans Scholl
Sonja Parmentier, Kelsey Sickels
Documentary, Powerpoint & Website:
Senior Individual
Jesse Owens
Daria Gosztyla, Lauren VanWormer
Walt Disney
Paul Jacobs, Jason Hanover, Emily Schell, Nathaniel Walsh
Youth Group
John Harvey Kellogg
Dominique Robinson, Kyrsta Thorne Prezzato
Henry Ford
Hailey Heard, Destiny Near, Miranda Jones
Papers:
Junior Papers
Nelson Mandela: Leader for the Fight for Human Rights in South Africa
Kellie Rankey
Eleanor Roosevelt
Grace Mosher
Anne Frank
Kayla Kershen
Senior Papers
Marie Antoinette
Jean-luc Deladurantaye
U.S. Grant
Joshua Gillard
Jimi Hendrix
Dianna Duchesne
Performances:
Senior Performance Group
Leonardo DaVinci
Samantha Kershen, Katie Mielens, Denni VanPelt
Benedict Arnold
Danielle Davis, Esther Clement, Cobi Pellerito
Youth Performances Individual
Charles Lindbergh
Victor Kuhl
Thomas Edison
Nick Causley
John Wilkes Booth
Patrick Camburn
Youth Performances Group
Whitey Ford
Madison Wagner, Zachary Jones
Babe Ruth
Christina Buzzard, Alyssa Barnes
Junior Performances Group
Rosa Parks Story
Mystique King, Alexis Jackson, Audrey Knope
Stephen Kent
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Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations.
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