Regional history contest continues to grow at college

BENTONVILLE — Fourth- through 12th-graders will “take over” Northwest Arkansas Community College for the regional National History Day contest March 9, Jami Forrester, program coordinator, told board members Tuesday.

There will be 100 more students participating this year than last year, she said. Last year, 455 students participated.

“We are outgrowing NWACC, pretty much,” Forrester said. “It looks like if the numbers keep growing the way they do, we’re going to have to split it into two days.”

This will be Forrester’s eighth year as coordinator. There were four schools involved her first year. There will be about 555 students from 33 schools from eight counties participating this year.

National History Day was established as an educational organization in 1974, and its largest program is the National History Day contest, according its website.

The program has teachers teach history through a theme — this year’s being “triumph and tragedy,” Forrester said.

The contest is for middle and high school students who research a topic from history and present what they’ve learned in one of five categories — documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances and websites.

It encourages students to think deeper and analyze history through a research project rather than just providing facts, Forrester explained.

“It looks like if the numbers keep growing the way they do, we’re going to have to split it into two days.”

— Jami Forrester, program coordinator

The college annually hosts a regional competition. Those who win advance to the state competition. Top performers at state advance to the national contest in Maryland.

There’s more than 600,000 students globally who participate in the program, according to Forrester. Only 4,000 of them are invited to the national competition. The college saw a local team win at nationals two years ago, Forrester said, adding it gave them an advantage when applying to colleges.

Evelyn Jorgenson, college president, said she’s served as a judge in the regional contest.

“I’m constantly amazed at the quality, the depth of information, the detail,” she said of the student works. “They have really done research.

It’s an incredible amount of work that they put into their projects.”