During annual event at Montana State, students consider history through new lens

BOZEMAN - The Cold War. Musicians Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong. Sputnik. The Greensboro sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement. These were just a few of the people and historical events students highlighted during the state contest for National History Day in Montana, a project-based learning program for middle and high school students from across the state. The annual event - which is affiliated with National History Day, a nonprofit education organization - was held on Saturday at Montana State University.

For the approximately 170 participating students, the National History Day in Montana state contest was an opportunity to see and share history through a new lens. The event encouraged students to consider whose stories are told, remembered and carried forward.

Hailey Hancock, assistant teaching professor in the MSU Department of Education and one of the event's organizers, invited participants to reflect on which historical perspectives are shared and which are not.

"I also encourage you to reflect on the lessons you have learned," Hancock said in remarks to students at the event. "Think about how you have grown academically and personally from this experience. We're so happy you're here."

This year's National History Day in Montana state contest included a keynote lecture, "The Journey of York: A Living History Experience," given by author and performer Hasan Davis. During the keynote, Davis shared a first-person historical interpretation of York, an enslaved man who was a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Davis and his son Malcolm Davis also co-facilitated an interactive intergenerational story lab workshop.

Hancock said the contest is the pinnacle of National History Day in Montana. Some students began their research at the beginning of the school year, and for many the state contest was the last time they presented it to a large audience. To participate, students in grades 6-12 choose a historical topic related to an annual theme, develop an original historical argument and conduct research using primary and secondary sources. Contestants can complete projects individually or with a group, and the final presentation can be in one of five formats: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website. This year's contest theme is "Revolution, Reaction and Reform."

Prior to the state competition, students may participate in school-wide contests or community competitions, then a regional contest. In addition to the statewide contest held Saturday at MSU, Montana regional contests were held this year in Kalispell, Helena and Dickinson, North Dakota.

On Saturday in the senior individual performance category, Thomas Johnson, a sophomore at Jefferson High School in Boulder, performed "Wobblies in the Woods: War, Work and the Fight for Reform in Montana's Timber Camps." After the performance, two judges praised the stories Johnson shared and the props he used, including newspaper articles he found. They also learned about how he chose the topic and where he did his research.

In another contest category called senior documentary, juniors Alivia Snyder and Kloe Svoboda from Victor shared a film they created about the Pentagon Papers, "American Coverup: How the Freedom of Press Sparked Revolution, Reaction and Reformation," and answered questions from four judges.

During that questioning, Snyder and Svoboda reflected on what the theme meant to them, the challenges they faced in creating the documentary and the insights they gained from tackling the project.

"There were two big challenges," Snyder said. "Working in a team means that one person wants one thing, one person wants another thing. We had to find a way to merge our ideas and come up with something we both thought was good."

She noted they also faced challenges dealing with technology issues and websites where they were searching for information. For example, during a shutdown of the federal government over the winter, some sites where they had planned to conduct research, such as the website for the National Archives, were not available.

In an interview after their presentation, Snyder and Svoboda both encouraged future National History Day in Montana participants to carefully consider their choice of topic.

"Find a topic that really interests you," Svoboda said. "It feels less like homework that way."

"When you're doing a project, focus on having fun," Snyder added. "You have to have fun."

The top two projects in each category at the April 25 state contest will have the opportunity to compete at the national contest, set for June 14-18 at the University of Maryland.

National History Day in Montana is sponsored by MSU's Department of Education and the Montana Historical Society. Co-coordinators are Hancock and Melissa Hibbard, interpretive historian with the Montana Historical Society.