Special Guest Harry S. Truman at North Puget Sound History Day Contest

Students reviewing their presentation
Photo by Don Wilson

North Puget Sound History Day Contest March 20, 2015 

with Special Guest Harry S. Truman Speaking on "Leadership and Legacy"

By Marianne Deal Stephens

On Friday March 20, over 300 young scholars from the North Puget Sound area will converge on Shoreline Center to present their historical research to panels of judges from the community. Sound dry? Then you haven't seen these kids in action. The students create documentaries, exhibits, performances, websites, or papers according to the guidelines of the National History Day contest. Websites and papers were judged in the weeks preceding the contest; documentaries, exhibits and performances will be presented and judged on March 20.

Students compete in two divisions: Junior for grades 6-8, and Senior for grades 9-12. Documentaries and performances have both individual and group sections. All students create entries based upon an annual theme, which is Leadership and Legacy in History for 2015.

Junior performance before a panel of judges
Photo by Don Wilson

On contest day, students in Documentary, Exhibits, or Performances compete in morning preliminary rounds in various locations in Shoreline Center. The work is evaluated by panels of three judges. About 12:30pm, the final round entries are announced, and those students present their work one more time to a different panel of judges. Following the final round, students and staff will enjoy a special performance at 3:00pm, and then the contest closes with announcements revealing which students will go on to the State Contest. 

President Harry S. Truman
addresses the students
Photo by Don Wilson

This year's featured speaker, Harry S. Truman (as portrayed by Seattle Attorney Mike King) will share his thoughts on Leadership and Legacy at 3:00pm in the Shoreline Center Auditorium. He will be joined by two members of his cabinet, Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and Secretary of War Henry Stimson. 

Participating students have already competed within their home school before advancing to this North Puget Sound History Day Contest, which includes Seattle, Shoreline, Northshore, and Mercer Island School Districts as well as many regional private schools. Students selected from this contest and seven other regional contests across Washington State will advance to the State History Day Contest to be held Saturday, May 2 at Green River Community College. State winners will advance to the national contest, which will be held June 16-18 at the University of Maryland in College Park. The North Puget Sound contest often has students go all the way to nationals. 

Volunteer judges reviewing the entries
Photo by Don Wilson

The contest depends on about 100 volunteer judges from the community. Judges need not have a history background; the group ranges from former History Day students to retired professionals. Volunteer judges simply need a willingness to spend a morning (7:30am-12:00pm) giving students constructive feedback and working on a panel with two other judges. There is always a last-minute need for judges. If interested, please email NPS Contest Administrator Gayle Edwards. 

Mr. King has played Harry S. Truman in many contexts. His appearance at the Bush School in Seattle as a President, deciding whether to drop the atomic bomb was covered in national media  and his work inspired a theater production "In the Realm of Whispering Ghosts: If Truman Met Einstein" .  . Gordon Coffey, who plays both Secretary Byrnes and Secretary Stimson, has acted in many local venues, including Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT Theatre, and Stone Soup Theatre. 

Though all students work with the Leadership and Legacy theme, they get to choose their own topics for research. A look at the 2015 catalog shows entries across the historical and geographic spectra, from Gutenberg to Steve Jobs and Gandhi to Narcissa Prentiss Whitman. Students have researched politics (Mao Zedong, the Cuban Missile Crisis), the arts (Aretha Franklin, Dale Chihuly), science and technology (Margaret Sanger, Boeing), the natural world (Jane Goodall, John Muir), and many other topics. 

The North Puget Sound History Day Contest by the numbers:

• 322 students
• 266 entries (documentaries and performances can be done as a group)
• 16 entries with "Roosevelt" in the title
• 12 schools 
• 19 teachers
• 93 judges (signed up so far; more are needed)
• scores of parents and chaperones

Previous themes of the National History Day Contest have included Taking a Stand (2006), Innovation (2010), and Rights and Responsibilities (2014).