Misericordia University will host the National History Day (NHD) regional competition on Saturday, March 12. More than 300 students from middle schools and high schools in Luzerne (except Hazleton School District), Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Pike, Wayne, Wyoming, Monroe, and Sullivan counties of Northeastern Pennsylvania are scheduled to participate. All presentations and exhibits for the event are free and open to the public.
The daylong event is sponsored by NHD, a nonprofit education organization that offers professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators, and yearlong academic programs to encourage students around the world to conduct and present original research on historical topics.
The theme for 2016's contest is "Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange in History," which offers students an invitation to look across time, space and geography to find examples in history when people took a risk and made a change, according to national organizers.
Students will complete at either the junior-high (grades 6-8) or senior-high (grades 9-12) level and as part of a group or as an individual in four categories: performance, documentary, website and exhibit. Students can also compete as an individual at the junior or senior-high level in the historical paper category.
Students who place in the top two in each of the 18 categories are eligible to advance to the state competition at Millersville University in Millersville, on May 10 and 11. Winners from the Pennsylvania state competition will then compete at the 2016 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, from June 12-16.
Jennifer Black, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and government, Misericordia University, and Jessica Garner, M.S.LIS, archivist at the Mary Kintz Bevevino Library at Misericordia University, are coordinating the event.
In addition to showcasing the work of local students, the day's activities will include exhibits from local historical societies, history trivia games, a scavenger hunt and afternoon lectures. Misericordia University Professors Allan Austin, Ph.D., professor of history, and Patrick Hamilton, Ph.D., associate professor of English, will present the talk, "World's Finest?: Superman's WWII Campaign Against Japanese Americans." Drs. Austin and Hamilton will engage students in a discussion of two WWII Superman cartoons and their racial stereotyping of Japanese Americans.
Margo Azzarelli will present "Preserving Local History in the Wyoming Valley," and Gail Marshall will offer "Wyoming Valley Nurses in World War II." There will also be presentations by living history actors Gina Aleo, portraying Mrs. Thomas Jefferson, and Regina Drasher, portraying "Big Mary" from the Lattimer Massacre.
Exhibitors will include Julie and Wendy Esty, on 19th-century funeral and burial practices; Ron Faraday, director, Greater Pittston Historical Society; Amy Kirpatrick, Lackawanna Historical Society, and John Fielding, Anthracite Heritage Museum.
Artists Renee Emanuel and Bill Teitsworth, whose work is currently featured in the Pauly Friedman Art Gallery, will give gallery talks throughout the day.
Registration will begin at 8 a.m. with a continental breakfast outside Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall's Dudrick, Muth and Huntzinger Rooms 216-218. Lunch will be provided free for students and subsidized at a discounted rate for parents in the John and Mary Metz Dining Hall in the Banks Student Life Center.
Students most commonly compete with their schools, but are welcome to apply independently. Students who compete in the contest are encouraged to use the resources at the Mary Kintz Bevevino Library at Misericordia University.
For additional information about NHD, including registration instructions, please visit http://libguides.misericordia.edu/NEPAhistoryday. A detailed schedule of events will be posted on the site by March 8. Questions may also be directed to Dr. Black at jblack2@misericordia.edu or at (570) 674-1491.
Photo Caption:
Misericordia University will host the regional competition of National History Day on March 12. Program co-directors for the annual event, from left, are Jessica Gardner, M.S.LIS, archivist, and Jennifer Black, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and government, Misericordia University.
