By Jonathan Morales

2023年4月19日

Sitting in the University Union three hours before he and his team were to present their exhibit on the automobile’s effects on U.S. postwar infrastructure, Braedan Grant was in a good mood.

“Our interviews have gone well in previous (competitions),” said Grant, a junior from Menlo-Atherton High School, south of San Francisco. “We don’t know what to expect from state and how it will differ, but I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

格兰特是1400多名加州K-12学生中的一员，他们来到博彩平台参加4月15日至16日举行的全州全国历史日比赛，展示他们的历史研究项目，并希望在今年晚些时候参加全国比赛。

The event provided 萨克拉门托 State students and faculty an opportunity to serve as judges and volunteers while strengthening the University’s ties to local schools.

“History Day is a fantastic program, and participating in the contest is some of the most fun that I have all year,” said Chloe Burke, a 囊状态 associate professor of History who has volunteered at the competition for 10 years. “I love the insights that I hear from young students.”

国家历史日向学生介绍历史研究过程，并使他们接触到他们可能不熟悉的事件或人物。 这项比赛面向全国六年级到十二年级的学生开放，不过加州也允许四年级和五年级的学生参加州一级的比赛。

Students are encouraged to focus their research on a specific theme, which this year is “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.”

在加州，全国范围的比赛在1月、2月和3月举行，获胜者被邀请参加全州范围的比赛。 在全州范围内的比赛中，获胜者将晋级到6月在马里兰州举行的全国比赛。

The 萨克拉门托 County Office of Education (SCOE) serves as the lead agency for National History Day – California.

“As a longtime advocate for history and civic learning and engagement, I’m convinced that History Day is an outstanding way to promote interest in history among students and support teachers in building interest in history more effectively with our young people,” said David W. Gordon, 萨克拉门托 County school superintendent. “Thanks to our SCOE staff and the many volunteers, we have an outstanding program that is foundational in becoming a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive society.”

This year’s event marked the first time 囊状态 hosted the statewide competition, but the University’s connection goes back several years. 在她开始为国家历史日做志愿者后不久，伯克开始探索如何深化它。

“I started thinking, ‘What can we be doing at 囊状态 to help support our local History Day students and teachers?’ ” Burke said. “How can we be helping them to develop effective and quality projects to be successful and move on (in the competition), but also to really immerse them in the process of doing historical research?”

She partnered with the University 图书馆 to provide workshops for NHD participants on how to use the 萨克拉门托 Public 图书馆’s resources for their research. Eventually, she landed on the event’s coordinating committee, while several faculty colleagues and students also volunteered.

参与的K-12学生在秋天开始他们的国家历史日工作，当他们决定他们的论文并开始研究。 They must use primary references – for example, recordings or writings from people who lived the event or period – and secondary references such as history books or newspaper articles.

小学生通常会制作海报，就像在科学展览会上看到的那样。 初高中学生可以制作海报、纪录片、网站、播客、短剧或研究论文。

Panels of judges – which at the state competition included K-12 teachers as well as 囊状态 faculty, graduate students, and upper-division undergraduate students – evaluate the projects.

历史系大四学生Ryun Ortiz希望成为一名教师，并最终成为一名大学教授，他是县和州一级比赛的评委，他说他很感激有机会与年轻的学生分享他对历史的热爱。

“At that age, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he said. “Now I like history and social sciences, but it didn’t really click until college. My personal goal was just to get that passion going at an early age.”

Elvy Seyman, a recent 囊状态 alum who will begin a teaching credential program later this summer, said, “Judging for National History Day is my favorite thing I do all year.

“Participating in the competition for the last five years really cemented for me that I wanted to be an educator. The work the students produce consistently blows me away.”

Through its 锚大学 community engagement initiative, 囊状态 has a “central role to play” in increasing participation of K-12 and 囊状态 students, Burke said. 她最近开设了一门课程，在国家历史日活动期间做志愿者的学生可以获得一到三个学分。

格兰特和他的门罗-阿瑟顿项目合作伙伴科林·史密斯都认为这是一次很好的经历。

“I really enjoyed getting into the meat of (a subject) instead of doing general overviews,” said Smith, adding that he was surprised at the difficulty of vetting historical sources. “I don’t think I had any experience before this where I really had to do it in a proper manner that would hold up against someone actually looking at it.

“Coming out more experienced … is always the goal of these things.”