The sophomores in American Literature 1600 are getting ready for their first round of National History Day. National History Day is a nationwide competition where students, individually or in a small group, create a documentary, website, paper, exhibit, or performance about something in history that relates to an overall theme, this year Conflict and Compromise in History.

Jacqui Foreman described her project, saying “(Lexi Moss, Kushal Sanjeev, and I) created an exhibit that explained the Toledo War. We made it very interactive and went through all of the events before, during, and after the war.”

In each category, three students from Bloomfield Hills High School can move on to districts, a competition against other schools in the region that takes place in Macomb.

Foreman’s project was one of the three group exhibits chosen to continue to the next round of NHD. When she discovered that her work was picked for districts, she was “really excited because we put so much work and effort into the project that it was a huge accomplishment.”

Lexy Lynch, a sophomore who wrote a historical paper comparing the Salem Witch Trials to modern-day stereotyping, is another student who will be representing Bloomfield Hills at districts. Her project was slightly different from Foreman’s, and this brought a different kind of stress. This is because papers and websites were required to have all of their materials turned in to the National History Day judges by February 2, while other categories had up until February 24, the date of districts, to prepare.

Lynch explained that while this led to a few stressful nights of preparing, “I feel as though because I chose a historical paper, which might have been easier than doing an exhibit in terms of the workload, in that sense, I deserved the lower amount of time,” she said. Lynch also realizes that the judges need to be able to look at her work ahead of time.

Rachel Matz, American Literature 1600 teacher, describes what she expects her students to accomplish at districts. “I hope that my students have fun, first and foremost, and have a chance to celebrate their accomplishments, it’s really exciting to make it to the district level. I hope they have a chance to share their hard work with another external and authentic audience, and that they have a great day seeing not only their classmates and peers, but also contemporaries from around the state,” she said.

Matz also explained why she continues participating in National History Day, saying “I love NHD because it allows students an opportunity to investigate a part of history they may otherwise not get to in school, or not get to in the depth of NHD. I also love that they have an opportunity to express that learning in a variety of ways, based on what they are most interested in.”