History Day is a competition all regular American History Students are required to participate in. It is described as a science fair for history by Tana Lucido, American/AP History teacher at Lewis-Palmer High School. Over twenty thousand students from all over Colorado come to compete in History Day. Regionals will be held on the Colorado College Campus, April 1st and 2nd. State competitions will be held at Colorado University in Denver on April 30th. Winners will be awarded with prizes such as money and scholarships. According to the National History Day website, The Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest is the final stage of a series of contests at local and affiliate levels. Students and parents attend College Park for the week-long event. They come from all over the United States.

Students’ are given the option to choose any topic relating to the themes of exploration, encounter and exchange. Students’ can create a documentary or exhibit, write a paper, build a website or perform in a historical skit. Students have roughly around 4-5 months to work on their project, being announced to most students before winter break in December.

“Research has shown that students who participate in History Day are better at research overall in all of their classes,” Lucido said. “They have an easier time in college writing papers, and they turn out to be better writers and researchers in general.”

Max McCutcheon, 11, is creating a documentary with his partner, Noah Bartner, 11, on the Hanoi Hilton, which was a prisoner camp during the Vietnam War. The juniors have even interviewed an authentic prisoner of war for their project: Mike McGrath, Max’s grandpa. He was a six-year prisoner of war after he got shot down from his aircraft.

“It’s a really big project, but if you just stress about it, you are just working yourself out, so I’m not too stressed about it,”  McCutcheon said. “Plan it out, don’t do everything at once, and don’t wait last minute because it won’t turn out well.”
National History Day is an event where students learn and participate; a tool later on used in college for big projects, papers and so on. They learn about influential historical figures and events that lead to how things stand today.