Michigan History Day 2008

Michigan Students Win Top Honors at National History Day

COLLEGE PARK, MD: Four Michigan History Day entries competing at the national finals outside of Washington, DC reached the top tier of competitors at National History Day. One of them also won the prestigious Best Entry in African-American History.

Over 2,300 students competed from 48 states and three territories in National History Day this year, held on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park. Only a handful of students advanced in each category to the final round. These top tier Michigan students presented the very best projects at National History Day 2008.

Michigan sent 48 students to compete in the national finals this year representing students from Ada, Birmingham, Comstock Park, Canton, Grand Rapids, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Holland, Houghton, Kalamazoo, Mattawan, Montague, North Muskegon, Painesdale, Plymouth, Portage, South Range, and Whitehall. Michigan History Day is an educational program of the Historical Society of Michigan and lead sponsors include Meijer, the Michigan Historical Center, The Cook Charitable Foundation, The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation and Alticor.

In the senior category three Michigan entries reached the top tier of entries at National History Day. Brittany Puska and Hannah Rundman, of Jeffers High School in Painesdale, placed 6th nationally in the Senior Group Exhibit category for their entry "1913-1914: The Strike of Michigan's Copper Mines." They also won the "Best in State" award as the top entry from Michigan in the Senior category. Their entry delved into the conflict that paralyzed the copper country and was a major confrontation between management and labor at the start of the twentieth century. Their teacher is Cheryl Ruohonen.

Natasha Brandel, a Whitehall High School student with teacher Jan Klco, placed 10th in the Senior Individual Exhibit category with her entry "Book Banning: Compromising Rights or Protecting the Innocent." Using primary source materials she explored the impact of this hot button issue that involves a great deal of Conflict and Compromise, the theme of this year's National History Day competition.

Taima Attal of Forest Hills Eastern Middle School in Ada placed 14th nationally in the Senior Individual Documentary category with her entry "Queen Zenobia and Her Buried Lands." Her teacher is Lea Sevigny. Using source materials from her family's native country, Syria, Attal was able to provide images and narrative that detailed this third century female leader that contested and confronted Rome.

In the junior category Michigan not only had a national finalist but an entry that also took home the prestigious Best Entry in African-American History that is sponsored annually by Lynda DeLoach and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Kateri Stachowicz, of Whitehall Middle School, placed 11th in the Junior Individual Documentary category for her entry the "Civil Rights Movement." With encouragement from her teacher and coach Jan Klco and her family, Stachowicz used archival footage, primary source materials, interviews and more to bring the movement for African-American civil rights to life. In addition to placing among the very best students nationally, she also was awarded the Best Entry in African-American History at the closing ceremonies of National History Day.

Dominic Surya of Holland West Middle School won Best in State in the Junior category for his entry "The Treaty of Versailles: The End of One War and the Beginning of Another." His entry explored circumstances surrounding the close of World War I and how it laid the groundwork for issues that would come to a head in World War II. His teacher is Gary Voesburg.

See below for results of the State Finals which were held in April.

 

 

2008 National Finalists, National Alternates, State Winners and Special Award Recipients

2008 State Finals - Full Program Booklet (posted 4/23/08)

Click here to see pictures from the 2008 Michigan History Day competition