St. Cloud State University hosted more than 250 local middle and high school students on campus March 17 for the regional History Day competition.
The local area students presented their results of months of research in Atwood and Stewart Hall, all connected to this year’s theme of conflict and compromise in history.
An analysis of these themes in the past certainly help youth and their families to think critically about the challenges and consequences of conflict and compromise in contemporary society.
The 174 projects on display came in many forms for students in the junior and senior divisions. They included individual and group exhibits, individual and group performances, documentaries, papers and websites. For many students, it was the first time they presented their work to audiences outside of their classrooms.
St. Cloud State history students were a key component in the event, with some serving as judges and others as mentors.
Graduate student Elizabeth Steinson, a history teacher at North Junior High, served as the contest’s internship adviser, and she had three other students serve as mentors who worked with area teachers and students to assist in the research process in the months preceding the conference. Kyle Imdieke, history graduate student, Mohamed Mohamud and Nick Raboin, history and social studies teaching majors, regularly visited area schools, worked with students and assisted middle and high school social studies teachers in the process.
Funded by the Minnesota Historical Society, an anonymous Department of History alum, Prudential, the Department of History, and its chair Betsy Glade, they have organized this collaborative program for many years that links St. Cloud State with area schools.
The experiences prepare college students for futures in teaching and public history while helping secondary schools and their students develop critical research, thinking and writing skills.
The Central Minnesota regional contest serves as a setting for the connections between St. Cloud State and more than a dozen area schools who sent students, often after a preliminary competition at their own school. After teams of judges that included college students, faculty, historical museum and archive professionals, alumni, citizens and others from the area, examined the research, they selected top students to move on to the state competition in St. Paul in April.
The University has been home to the Central Minnesota regional History Day competition for more than 30 years.
If interested in participating in the 2019 competition, contact the St. Cloud State Department of History.
