The second semester of the school year releases the tension of first semester yet, unearths many new tasks for students. National History Day has become a daunting reality for underclassmen, upperclassmen and even middle schoolers. However, for some, this  gigantic project has been taken to a new level. After devoting countless hours into researching and creating, their project was judged on April 1, at Colorado College for National History Day. Their irrecoverable hours dedicated to these projects paid off, for many ranked high enough to progress to the state championship. Eight Lewis-Palmer High School students Out of 220 students in the district, who participated,  qualified for state. Due to their work, they have  been invited to attend the Board of Education meeting on April 21st to be honored by the board themselves.

“It was really amazing to be honored by the board,” said Katie Beasley,11, who qualified for state with her partner Lauryn Ritchie.“I really enjoy recognition for something I put a lot of work into, so it was really nice,” Beasley said.

Ritchie and Beasley’s project was about  how western animation has impacted the world. They spent over 20 hours on this project and learned a lot more than they expected to. Their documentary, History and Exploration of Western Animation, won a third place victory for the girls.

“We did a documentary because Lauryn really likes editing videos, and animations and videos go together, and we both were really interested in the topic and we think that it had a pretty big impact on how people’s lives were shaped. There were some issues with finding high quality video clips and finding primary sources, but I’m proud that we made it and qualified,” Beasley said  

Another group who advanced to the state competition was the pair of Sydney Lewis,11, and Breanna Cramer,11. The duos’  exhibit, Animal Domestication in America, took a complete 24 hour time period to research and create, and then some.

“When Sydney told me we made it to state, I kind of looked at her in disbelief, like what? How did we make it? I’m super excited about it though,” Cramer said.

Their topic was pretty unusual for History Day, considering it was not about a specific time, but a piece to enlighten people about the positives and negatives of animal domestication.

“We didn’t want to do anything that was super focused, like typical history day topics. We didn’t want to do a war or a time period, but something that interested us,” Lewis said.

Lewis had been interested in this topic for years, and Cramer wanted to learn more about it. However, the girls spent a lot of their time trying to find the angle they wanted to present their project.

“We wanted to do something that was different and stood out, but we didn’t want our personal beliefs getting mixed up [in the project], so that was difficult,” said Cramer.

The state competition is on saturday, April 30, in downtown Denver. Groups are dealing more cards of their time to this stressful competition, preparing for pressure of representing  Lewis-Palmer in the championship. The people of National History day are  scrambling as well, due to the recent snow, they are making some changes to venue specifics, to make the commute less stressful for participants. Despite the rush, National History Day officials assure that everything will turn out fine.

With the day of the competition looming and students making pre-show preparations, being honored for their time and dedication by the board has boosted morale and the determination in students and the district hopes for the best for all competitors.