Happy Easter everyone! I hope you had a joyful and blessed day with your loved ones. We enjoyed having a traditional American Easter complete with mass, an egg hunt, and a big ham, of course! It was a lovely day, though we came into it a bit exhausted from our previous two days at the Oregon History Day Competition in Oregon’s capital city of Salem.
As I’ve mentioned in other posts, Nia is a history nut and spends all her free time reading non-fiction History books. WWII is of particular interest, as is anything to do with aviation (she’s currently reading Unbroken, which hits on both categories). She shares this love of history with her Dad and Grandfather Novak–notice I did not mention my name. :) My eyes tend to glaze over when she goes into long historical diatribes or descriptions of what makes the B-17 so epic. That being said, I love seeing her so passionate about something and the depth of her knowledge is truly remarkable (like WAY beyond what I know).
I’m sure you can imagine her delight when she learned that all 7th graders were required to submit a project for Oregon’s National History Day. She had loads of ideas but ultimately settled on doing a 10-minute documentary on Guantanamo Bay because it was a historical topic she knew nothing about (now THAT shocked me, given that it’s role in 9/11 is such a foundational part of my generation’s lives). At the school’s competition in March she was awarded one of the 15 slots to attend the State competition (out of 35 total kids). What made it all the more sweet was that all five of her closest friends were also chosen!
Given that, we all decided to make a fun weekend out of it by staying at a common hotel Friday night and kicking off the weekend with a big group dinner. I’ve gotten to know the parents of Nia’s friends quite well this year and truly enjoy their company, so this outing was fun for all of us. This was serious business for the kids though, so we wrapped up the fun around 9 so everyone could get some good sleep before the big day.
On Saturday morning each student had a 10-minute slot assigned during which they’d answer questions about their project. They were given the questions in advance, which helped quell nerves, and supposedly the interview didn’t even count toward the outcome, which makes me think it was more a check to make sure the student actually did the work and knew their subject matter. The rest of the day was devoted to checking out the other entries, exploring the beautiful Willamette University Campus, and attending a special tour of the Capitol building.
We were in the first of two groups to tour the Capitol. Much of it is currently under construction, but thankfully the two most important rooms were not and we enjoyed presentations in the Senate Chamber with the Secretary and the House of Representatives Chamber with the Reader (for those, like me, who may not be familiar, the Reader has to read every bill three times and is responsible for keeping track of where each bill is in the approval process). This year Oregon has over 3,000 bills being reviewed and about 20% will make it into law. Nia loved sitting in the actual chairs of legislators and getting to push the button that signals you’d like the chance to speak. The picture above is from the Senate Chamber and the one below is from the House of Representatives. Fun fact: the carpet was custom-made in Ireland and features icons of famous industries in Oregon. The House has trees (for logging) and the Senate had fish and wheat.
At 2:30 we gathered for the closing ceremony where they’d announce the winners in each category. There was a Junior division (6th to 8th graders) and Senior division (9th to 12th graders). Projects could be done individually or in a group and fell into one of five categories: Exhibit (poster), Performance, Website, Paper, or Documentary. So Nia, for example, was in the Junior Individual Documentary category. The top two submissions from each category move on to the National competition in DC in June.
Following some introductions and a quick message from the head of the Oregon Historical Society, it was time to hand out the awards….Tension in the room was high. I wanted Nia and all her friends to advance, but obviously that wouldn’t be the case since four of them did solo documentaries and two did solo websites. I was so grateful when her category was the first called. I held my breath as they announced the documentary chosen as Honorable Mention (third place, not advancing). Cheers erupted from our group when we saw Nia’s friend Zoe’s name up on the screen. Next up were the two documentaries advancing to DC. I knew Nia would be crushed if she didn’t get this and I wanted it for her so badly. My heart was racing. The first name called was . . .
Nia’s!!
She had done it! She was going to DC in early June to spend five days with 3,000 other kids from across the U.S. She was absolutely beside herself with excitement, even tearing up a bit when the reality of it sunk in. It was her first taste of what it felt like to work really hard at something and be publicly rewarded for it. I know that moment will stay with her a long, long time. Her school ended up sweeping the documentary category with another boy named Logan securing the second spot. And more cheers came a few minutes later when her friend Eloise was chosen to advance for her website. Here’s a picture of Nia, Zoe, and Eloise with their medals.
In case you’d like to watch Nia’s documentary, here is the most current version. She’ll be making some minor changes based on the feedback she’ll soon receive from the judges, but this is what she presented this weekend:
We are incredibly proud of her and can’t wait to see what adventures await her in D.C.! Be sure and check out this great program in your State. It’s a fantastic way to get kids interested in History!
