National History Day

<p>Have any of you participated in this before? Ha, sorry for asking about all of these compitions. Htey look really enjoyable to me.</p>

<p>I have participated three times in National History Day, two of which I made it to Nationals. It's a GREAT experience, and you meet lots of cool people who are interested in academics. </p>

<p>It's especially cool if you have a topic you are absolutely fascinated with. My friend and I are planning to participate again this year for the last time. The topic, "The Individual In History" is going to make for some awesome topics and fun times! :D</p>

<p>The first year me and the 2 other kids on my team ditched our display and went to the movies because we were so bored, people came to see us and they were shocked to see our table bare. Can you say DISQUALIFIED. hehe
The second year we went to nationals. =)
I saw your other posts in prep school and even though contests can be very cool to put on your app., schools are also looking for kids who contribute within their school.</p>

<p>Oh. Notlooking for it for prep schools, they all just seem really intriguing to me. :)</p>

<p>I've been participating for the past four years. its great. a lot of work, but every time I've done it with a group of friends and we end up spending "meetings" just having fun and hanging out on the premise of "doing work" and do a ton of actual work at the last minute, causing extremely severe lack of sleep.
hey, I've placed at states 4/4 times and gone to nationals twice, so I must be doing something right.</p>

<p>So, for all of you who have participated, if you do a performance do you need, not only props, but a visual aid, such as a three fold board with photos and tables and whatnot?</p>

<p>I kinda want to do it, but if it is too much work...</p>

<p>No... but it sounds fun. I'll bring it to the attention of my county group.</p>

<p>County Group?</p>

<p>its a lot of work, if you want to actually do well (assuming youre from a state thats relatively competitive). you need to do a lotttt of research, contact/annoy people for interviews, visit any reasonable museums and libraries, etc. and the bibliography has to be annotated. its painful. </p>

<p>i did a performance in 8th grade and we got to nationals. we had a backdrop that was like three hinged wooden six feet tall boards on which we put posters relating to the era (this was WWII so like stuff about war bonds, an FDR poster, etc.) that we got from a museum we visited, our title, and in the middle we made a thing with the year hanging down that we changed each scene because out performance took placefrom the great depression to the end of the war and we wanted the audience to know what was going on
I think any sort of backdrop is a good idea since you can change behind it and hang out behind it if you arent in a scene
in addition our set was supposed to be like a living room where everyone gathered to listen to the fireside chats so we had three chairs, a table with a radio on it, an original newspaper, etc. </p>

<p>everyone approaches it differently though. some people just have a piece of cloth hanging so that they can change behind it, some people dont have backdrops, you can really do whatever you want it just depends on your performance</p>

<p>Yes. I have participated before and made it to Nationals. In order to do so, you must put in a certain amount of effort, but it all depends on the competition in your state. I saw some rather egregious entries at Nationals. Simultaneously, I witnessed some exceptional performances and videos as well as creative displays. The experience was well worth it.</p>

<p>In fact, I want to do it again this year. I already have some individuals in mind for the theme "The Individual in History."</p>

<p>I'm willing to put in the effort, my state isn't really competitive, well, unless you're a football player, but that's not the topic at hand is it. :)</p>

<p>It sounds great.</p>

<p>Ok, for this year's theme I'm thinking about doing a religous leader and do a performance from the point of view of his wife. Will that work? THat's as far indepth as I'm going though.</p>