College Park, MD – Nearly 3,000 students representing schools from throughout the United States, surrounding territories and countries around the world gathered at the University of Maryland, College Park from June 11–15 to compete in the 2017 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Competition. Three students from Calvert County Public Schools earned top awards.
Abigail Setzfand of Northern Middle School (pictured above) was honored with the silver medal in the Junior Individual Website category for her project “Lewis Hine: Focusing the Lens on Child Labor.”
Tyler Cassidy and Edward Williams of Plum Point Middle School (pictured above) won the Outstanding State Entry Award for their exhibit entitled, “Brown v. Board of Education of Calvert County: Taking a Stand for African-American Teachers.” They finished fourth in the Junior Exhibit Category.
Calvert County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel D. Curry said, “Thanks to Abigail, Tyler and Edward for representing us so well at Nationals. We are proud of their performance.”
According to a press release from Maryland Humanities, the National History Day program allows students to explore an annual theme through research using primary and secondary sources and to create a final product to display their work. The 2017 competition encouraged students to contemplate “Taking a Stand in History” and select a project in one of the following five categories: exhibit, performance, website, paper or documentary. Maryland students competed in school and county competitions, as well as the statewide contest Maryland History Day, which is coordinated by Maryland Humanities, before advancing to the national competition in College Park.
Maryland Humanities is a statewide, educational nonprofit organization that creates and supports educational experiences in the humanities that inspire all Marylanders to embrace lifelong learning, exchange ideas openly and enrich their communities.