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Press Release

July 6, 2016

Contact: Steve Hawkins
Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-0754
shawkins@okhistory.org
www.okhistory.org/historycenter

Oklahoma Students Compete in 2016 National History Day

OKLAHOMA CITY — In May, Oklahoma students from across the state competed in the 2016 Oklahoma National History Day (OKNHD) state contest. In all more than 60 students, grades 6–12, their teachers and their parents made their way to the National History Day contest, held June 12–16, on the University of Maryland, College Park campus in College Park, Maryland.

Nirvana Khan, who is taught by Margaret Wadleigh at Irving Middle School in Norman, received a third place medal in Junior Individual Website for “Petticoat Pilgrims: World War II Brides Explore Culture and Exchange Hope.” The Senior Division Best Use of a Civil Rights Topic award went to Logan Wood, Raelynn Parham and Will Lalman from Patty Sanders’s class at Morrison High School for their website “Brushstrokes and Bloodshed: Emory Douglas and the Rise of the Black Panthers.” Emily Tucker from Broken Arrow High School, taught by Molly Endsley, was in the finals for Senior Individual Performance and came in eighth in the nation for her performance “Contrarii Moribus: The Roman Invasion of Britain.” Braxton Thompson, Kenzi Nix and Kylie Nix from Dora Fuqua’s class at Canton Elementary School placed fourth in the nation in Junior Group Exhibit for their project “Oil and the Osage,” and received the Junior Division Oklahoma Outstanding Project. Zane Hilbig, Clint Stout, Austin Hamilton and Tanner Neely, also from Patty Sanders’s class at Morrison High School, placed seventh in the nation in Senior Group Exhibit with their project “Livestock Identification: Branding through History,” and were awarded the Senior Division Oklahoma Outstanding Project.

National History Day is a worldwide contest with students from all 50 states, American territories, and the Department of Defense. Students compete in exhibits, documentaries, performances, websites and historic papers. Each year more than 6,000 students compete at district contests in Oklahoma before making their way to the Oklahoma History Center for the state contest in May. “National History Day allows students to do the work of historians, explore the past in a personal and unique way, and then present what they learn to historians and museum professionals,” said Sarah Dumas, OKNHD coordinator. “It is one of the best tools for authentic evaluation that classroom teachers can find and brings students from rural and urban schools together in a unique way, giving them skills that will benefit them in school, college and life.”

The students and teachers who attended the National History Day contest received special, one-of-a-kind Oklahoma City Thunder History Day shirts, donated by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Many students, including the students from Canton, had the opportunity to visit Oklahoma legislators, including Senator James Lankford.

At the state level, OKNHD partnered with Newspapers in Education (NIE) to provide a History Day Curriculum. The History Day 2016 curriculum published by NIE was made available to 881 registered teachers via digital access, print access or both. These 881 registered teachers report working with a total of 191,027 students across 603 schools. Of these teachers, 412 received a classroom set of student workbooks as a result of a specific request or because they are located within our standard circulation area. All four lesson plans also were made available digitally to the 881 registered NIE teachers as well as being featured in the Oklahoman newspaper.

The Oklahoma History Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and is an accredited member of the American Alliance of Museums. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains 30 museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.





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