History Day Competition
Grand County Students Place 1st at Colorado’s National History Day Competition

Two of Winter Park Christian School’s students, Isaac Matson and Naomi Ammon, placed first at the State level at the National History Day Competition in their divisions and will be going to the National Competition in Washington, D.C. in June.  Isaac Matson’s project was a self-written performance titled, Banastre Tarleton: Encountering Adversity, Riding to Victory in the senior individual division. Naomi Ammon created an exhibit entitled Yellowstone for All: Ferdinand Hayden ,1871 Hayden Expedition in the junior individual division.

WPCS had nine students win at the regional level and move on to compete at the state level. Five students then made it to the final round of the state competition: Juliette Linke, Jess Miller, Isaac Matson, Katelyn Freed and Naomi Ammon. Colorado had approximately 16,000 students compete in the regional competitions this year. 750 students competed this last Saturday at the Colorado State NHD competition. Only 36 students from the state of Colorado are invited to compete at the National Competition.

Naomi Ammon

Winter Park Christian School invites the community to come celebrate with the students. Isaac Matson will be performing his historical drama and Naomi Ammon will be presenting her exhibit on Tuesday, May 17th from 7:00-8:00pm at Winter Park Christian Church, 274 Ponderosa Trail, Tabernash, CO  80478. If you would like to sponsor part of their trip to Washington, D.C., we will be taking donations that evening or mail them to WPCS, P.O. Box 518, Tabernash, CO 80478 (note NHD on the memo of the check). The cost for this trip is approximately $2,200 per student including one chaperone.

We are incredibly proud of all 23 of our students who submitted a National History Day project this year.  Each project reflected 6-8 months of research and creation in 5 categories: website, documentary, research paper, performance, and exhibit. The competition is divided into junior division (6th-8th grade) and senior division (9th-12th grade). The students choose a historical topic related to the annual theme, and then conduct primary and secondary research. They analyze and interpret their sources, draw a conclusion about the significance of their topic, and represent their work in one of the options listed above. They essentially become “mini-historians” of their chosen research. At each competition, they are interviewed by judges questioning them about their research and chosen topic. The Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest in Washington, D.C.  is the culmination of many local and state contests in the United States, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and international schools in China, Korea and South Asia.. Colorado’s State competition was held this last Saturday, April 30th on the CU Denver Campus.