Almost every HWRHS tenth and eleventh grader has heard about National History Day (NHD), as it has been a part of Hamilton-Wenham’s history curriculum since the mid-80’s, or at least since History Department Curriculum Coordinator Ms. Borges can remember, and she’s been at Hamilton-Wenham for twenty years. The contest itself has been around since 1972. For some students, NHD is the primary reason why they elect to take Honors History in tenth and eleventh grade; for others, it is the sole reason why they opt, instead, to take CP History. It seems to either evoke intense fear or excitement. For me — initially — it was pure anxiety tinged with a bit of anticipation.
I had only known about NHD because my sister, who is six years older than me, had participated. As an elementary schooler, I imagined history fair as some mysterious, months-long endeavor that robbed me of hang-out time with my sister. Every night, week after week, month after month, my sister would sit at our dining room table researching a historical topic that pertained to that year’s NHD theme — one year, it was “Tragedy to Triumph,” another year, “Breaking Barriers” — honing her website.
Websites are one of the five ways that students can represent their topic, the other four being documentary, exhibit, research paper (only open to 11th graders at HWRHS), and performance. Regardless of which creative avenue students choose to convey their research and knowledge, it requires persistent dedication, and I did not handle my sister’s due diligence well. I would stomp my feet, cross my arms, huff, mutter, and roll my eyes, demanding she stop working and spend time with me. She would just laugh — or depending on her mood — yell — and bellow, “Just you wait and see. Your day will come soon.”
Well, my day has come, and to my surprise, I am really enjoying working on my NHD project, even though it does require a lot of work — and I do mean a lot of work. We were asked to think about a possible topic as early as September 17th and tasked with finding our first article just one week later. At that point, we had only been in school for 12 days, so I wasn’t really expecting to jump into NHD so quickly. To be honest, I was just trying to get adjusted to all my new courses and teachers; yet here we were trying to wrap our minds around this year’s NHD theme, “Rights and Responsibilities,” which happens to be one of Ms Borges’s favorite themes, along with the theme “Tragedy to Triumph.”
I chose the right-to-die movement in America, a topic that I’ve come to discover is quite uncommon. At first, this surprised me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that not many teenagers like to spend their time thinking about end-of-life autonomy and care! Instead, students, according to Ms Borges, tend to gravitate towards World War II, in particular the Japanese internment, even though they don’t start studying WWII until eleventh grade. Other frequent topics include Title IX and the 19th century Suffrage Movement.
I was genuinely excited to finally settle on a topic, but from that moment on, I was truly living “the NHD experience,” which meant living, eating, and breathing my topic as I relentlessly researched and took notes from books, online articles, and primary sources like original documents. Our first draft was due on November 27th, our final, January 16th. Needless to say, this was a long, at times satisfying, at times frustrating, all-consuming endeavor; and yet, throughout the process and still today as I prepare for the state competition, I find myself wanting to know more about my topic, as I realize that there is still so much left to uncover and learn.
Ms. Borges believes that this realization is exactly what makes NHD unique and special. She explains, “[The National History Fair] is an opportunity for students to pursue a passion that they have in history and to really do a deep dive in it.” It is a thrill that Ms. Borges, herself, experienced when she was obtaining her Master’s degree. Despite spending an entire year writing and defending her thesis, she still realized “that there was still more to learn,…still more sources to uncover.” As Ms. Borges points out, it is important, “in our [current] world,” for students to stay with a topic for a duration of time, because we “don’t spend enough time thinking deeply about different subjects and topics…When you do,..that’s pretty special.”
I couldn’t agree more. There’s never enough time to explore a single topic deeply, yet nothing is more exhilarating than losing oneself in such a pursuit. Each discovery brings a quiet, electric thrill, sharpening the mind as the world outside fades. Hours pass unnoticed, and when understanding dawns, an indescribable joy stirs within. I wish we could always focus on one topic longer at school instead of flitting from one concept to the next in a matter of days. This is why I, too, have really liked NHD; it has given me the opportunity to explore the ins and outs of a very controversial but fascinating topic.
Surprisingly, the hardest challenge for me has been deciding how best to present all my research in a cohesive and artistic manner. I knew that a paper, my first choice, was “off the table,” as Ms. Borges explained, because the history department “wants students to be able to develop an argument and present it in a creative way. This teaches them a way to present information beyond just written format.”
With my first choice gone, I had to choose from a website, exhibit, documentary, or performance. This is where the problems began! I am not tech-savvy — not even close. In fact, I often think I was meant to be born in a different era. I am also not a great performer, despite six years of violin lessons — nor do I have any experience filming a documentary. And my cutting abilities? Let’s just say they are abominable at best. To be honest, I literally don’t think I’ve ever cut anything straight on my first attempt. So, this was truly a conundrum.
I finally decided to create an exhibit, for I thought people could best grasp the history, progression, and controversy of the right-to-die movement by simultaneously seeing all three panels. My concept was good, but execution, poor. Several of my cutting attempts failed: wrong size font, wrong size shape — wrong, wrong, and just more wrong. Nevertheless, after filling numerous wastebaskets with tenth, eleventh, twelfth tries, I felt a rush of exhilaration when my exhibit was complete. I created something out of nothing, and it felt amazing.
It would feel even more amazing if all the Regional winners — Gabriella Jewitt, Rowan Sheckells, Jane Starr, Evelyn Durey, Gillian Horner, Morgan Etna, Nikhita Pillai, Ellia Lenocker, Eloise Ryan, Maya Wakeham, Ian Swanson, Mollie Mosher, Reece Fabrizo, and I — could advance to the Nationals where approximately 3,000 students from across the United States and overseas compete each June at the University of Maryland, College Park.
On April 12th, we will head to Winchester to compete for one of two coveted slots per category. The rivalry will be intense, but HWRHS students have a history of advancing.
Ms. Borges explains, “We have taken students to Nationals every single year, even during the pandemic, except for this past year.” Interestingly, the projects that have been most successful at Nationals have been documentaries and websites, with Tucker Apgar, Sean Li, and Lily Ting securing first place in the 2018 Senior Group Website category for their project “By Winter We Will Know Everything: The Prague Spring and Conflict Over Control,” and the team of Ian Castracane, Ryan Luo, Luke McMahon, Chris Domoracki, and Leo Greco achieving third place in the 2020 Senior Group Documentary category with their project “The Week That Changed the World: Nixon’s Groundbreaking Visit to China.”
Over the years, HWRHS has repeatedly had top ten placements at Nationals. One year, in particular, was a really strong year. Ms Borges reveals, “We had a first place website, a third place website, a third place exhibit, and a seventh place documentary.” Hamilton-Wenham hopes to return to Nationals this year. Please root for us on April 12th.
