Hundreds of students from throughout Colorado will converge on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus to present a slew of unique projects, many a year in the making, during the 20th annual Colorado History Day.
About 700 students in grades six through 12 will compete in the event on Saturday, April 28, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the CU-Boulder campus. The students will present projects, all stemming from a historical theme chosen by the program's national coordinators. This year the theme is "Frontiers in History: People, Places and Ideas."
"Colorado History Day brings together students from all four corners of our state," said Colorado History Day assistant state coordinator Nancy Brown, a CU-Boulder doctoral student who is organizing the event with coordinator John Enyeart, also a doctoral student.
"It is a unique opportunity to see all these Colorado kids come together to compete as scholars and show off the projects they have been working on for the past year."
Competing students have prepared projects in one of four categories - papers, media (documentaries and multi-media), exhibits and performance - all expanding on the frontier theme in some manner.
Titles of some of this year's entries include "The Ludlow Massacre: Frontier Labor Violence;" "Equal Suffrage in America: Pushing for the Vote for Women;" "All that Jazz: The Musical Frontier;" "Children of the Rural Frontier: The Orphan Trains;" and "Crossing the Bridge: Frontiers in Human Genetics."
Brown said that Colorado History Day gives students an opportunity to showcase their knowledge and unique creative talents in the same kind of light given student athletes.
"These students produce unbelievable projects," Brown said. "And this event gives them an opportunity to have their work validated from people other than their teachers and parents."
Student exhibits will be open for public viewing in the University Memorial Center Ballroom, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Â鶹ÒùÔº presenting papers, media projects or performing will be in the Eaton Humanities Building or Hellems Arts and Sciences.
The awards ceremony, which will be attended by U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, begins at 3:30 p.m.
Both the state and national contests are divided into two divisions, one for students in grades six through eight and another for grades nine through 12. Awards will be given in both divisions.
Colorado History Day is part of the largest national humanities education program in the country. State winners will go to the University of Maryland June 10-14 to compete with students from throughout the nation in the 26th annual National History Day contest.
In the 2000 National History Day competition, two Colorado students received national awards. Sarah Drummond of Colorado Springs received first prize in the country in the Senior Individual Exhibits category. Catherine Norbeck of Hamilton Middle School in Denver received second prize in the country in Junior Individual Exhibits.
Beginning in September 2000, about 4,000 students in Colorado began conducting research, preparing their projects and competing with others for the opportunity to take part in the Colorado History Day competition at CU-Boulder.
CU-Boulder's history department has been coordinating Colorado History Day since 1984, shortly after the program debuted in 1981 as a small contest with 75 student participants.