CONWAY -- A worldwide pandemic didn't stop the state's elementary and high-school students from competing against each other with distinctive projects honoring National History Day, according to a spokeswoman with the University of Central Arkansas.
Each spring for the past 26 years, the university has hosted more than 400 students from around the state on campus to present historical research projects -- in the form of live performances, exhibits, documentaries, websites and historical essays -- in front of judges who rank the competitors according to scores.
But when the covid-19 pandemic hit in March and school campuses closed, the once lively event turned to the virtual world.
Pat Ramsey, the state coordinator for National History Day -- a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 and based in College Park, Md. -- said the students readily agreed to convert their in-person projects into virtual presentations that could be displayed electronically and evaluated remotely by historians who volunteered to review the projects online.
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"Most of our students jumped in, with the support of their teachers, and got their projects ready for the new contest format. I was not really surprised that they stayed in, because these students are among the best in the state, with the best teachers," Ramsey said. "And they had already put a lot of work into their projects. They wanted to see them reviewed by historians."
Of the more than 260 state students who competed in the spring, 64 students qualified to compete in the national competition, which started Sunday and ends Saturday. The national event, which is typically held on the University of Maryland campus each year, will be held virtually as well due to the pandemic.
The challenges this year presented lessons for the students, said Wendy Lucas, chair and professor of history at UCA.
"If anything, I think what 2020 has demonstrated is how critical a knowledge of history is to understand the world we live in," Lucas said. "Pandemics, racial protests and riots, space launches ... all of these have happened before. Looking back at these moments both help us navigate the present and chart a path to the future. When students across the state participate annually in History Day, they situate themselves in a moment in the past. They learn empathy. They learn about human resilience. They realize that the past is still with us today."
This year's theme for the National History Day competition is Breaking Barriers in History, a subject appropriate to this year's challenges, Cathy Gorn, executive director of the National History Day organization, said in a statement.
"We recognized this as an opportunity to do something we've never done before. In the face of this devastating global crisis, we are using the tools available to us, specifically technology and our stalwart network of coordinators and volunteers, to support this year's National Contest and make it happen for the students," Gorn said. "Their perseverance and hard work will be seen and celebrated by teachers, parents, and most importantly, their peers across the country. We have to do all we can to provide a little bit of normalcy for these kids who have seen their usual school year all but vanish. Frankly, canceling was never an option."
Each year, about half a million students nationwide choose a topic related to the theme and conduct extensive research through sources like libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites to draw conclusions about their topics' significance in history. They can compete individually or as a team in one of five categories: original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries.
"Most teachers use History Day as a graded assignment, but, once the grading is done, students choose how much effort they put into developing their projects," Ramsey said. "Their work is evaluated by historians who do not know them, but are reviewing their research. Those historians may like it, or they may not. No participation trophies in History Day, but students come away knowing that they have done their best, win or lose."