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‘Individuals’ take History Day spotlight

Fruitvale Jr. High Group Performance winners: (from left) Marissa Manos, Bianca Hinojosa, Ramneet Sahota, Sameen Bramer and Calvin Laverty



Centennial High Individual Exhibit winner Grant Stanton

Encouraged to explore “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies,” approximately 150 students put their research and findings on display at the 26th annual Kern County History Day competition held March 7 at Ridgeview High School in Bakersfield. Winners in each category earned the right to compete at History Day in California - April 30-May 1 in Sacramento. State winners go on to compete at National History Day, June 14-18 at the University of Maryland.

Students in grades 4-12 from 22 Kern County schools competed. They had been involved in research since the beginning of the school year preparing historical papers, exhibits, performances, documentaries, Web sites and posters designed around the National History Day theme of “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies.”

Thorner School’sMaveric Guzman and Elizabeth Nakagawa chose documentary as their winning vehicle in the junior group documentary category. The judges watched with interest as Guzman and Nakagawa’s entry “A Thorn in His Side” used narration, pictures, interviews and graphics to chronicle the story of how women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul help sway the opinion of President Woodrow Wilson.

“I never knew about the suffrage movement before we began this project, and that women didn’t have the right to vote back then,” Nakagawa said. “When women got divorced they couldn’t even get custody of the children and would lose their money and the house. To this day on a percentage basis they still don’t earn equal pay for their work.”

Grant Stanton’s exhibit, “Ulysses S. Grant: Man Not Monster,” which was on display with dozens of other notable efforts in the Ridgeview Gym was not overlooked by the judges. It was one of two first place winners with its well-defined display of newspaper clippings, photos and memorabilia. It even included a Civil War jacket that Stanton made himself from a discarded Goodwill coat and authentic replicas of military buttons and badges.

“I found history does not give Grant the respect he deserves,” Stanton said. “I read through his personal memoirs and other books and articles about him, which showed he played a big role in healing the nation after the Civil War. Although his administration was the most scandalized in Presidential history, he was for the most part not involved in the scandals.”

Still others took the theatrical approach to express their knowledge of history in solo or group performances that included period costumes and portable sets. Two Fruitvale Jr. High teams took both of the group documentary titles in the junior division with performances based on World War II concentration camp survivor Eli Wiesel and American civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez.

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools, law firm of Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, Cooper, Rosenlieb & Kimball, LLP and Ridgeview High School sponsored the county event.

KERN COUNTY HISTORY DAY 2009WINNERS

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