GPS National History Day participants
Each year more than half a million students participate in the National History Day contest, and among those were GPS seventh grade American Studies students who presented their projects for GPS judging in January. Each girl chose a historical topic related to the annual theme and then conducted research. They analyzed and interpreted their sources and drew a conclusion about the significance of their topics. Then they presented their work in one of five ways: as a paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary or a web site.
Those who won first-place from GPS for their projects included Kat Ingle, exhibit; Gesa Nestler, paper; and Claire Lindeman, website. They may now enter their work into local, and maybe even state contests to be judged by professional educators and historians.
Other students whose work captured second, third, and honorable mention were Faith Copeland, Kaitlyn Cunningham, Sarah Foropolous, Catherine Grey, Madison March, Sana Nisar, Maddy Shaw and Grace Spurling.
While these students were researching history, others Middle School students competed in the 2015 Geography Bee. Seventh grader Katherine Bell advances to state competition in the National Geographic Geo-Bee. Out of 75 applicants this year, more than twice last year’s entrants, nine qualified for the semifinals. Ms. Bell was joined by eighth grader Myra Brock in the finals, which took place at Middle School assembly in mid-January.
Ms. Bell was able to answer four out of five questions correctly during the final round, with both girls writing their answers on their iPads, similar to the final round of “Jeopardy”! Many adults probably don’t know the name of the European peninsula on which Norway is located or the name of the capital city located southwest of Moscow on the Dnieper River in the Ukraine (Scandinavian, Kiev). Ms. Bell now takes a written test to qualify for the state bee, and the winner at that level participates at the National Geography Bee in May, according to faculty member Glen Vey, who oversees the school competition.
Other semifinalists were Corrie Arnold, Olivia Combs, Molly Hathorne, Sana Nisar, Havan Nguyen, Anna Grace Paddock and Maggie Parsley.
GPS Geo-Bee participants and Glen Vey