Howard County to Host Regional History Day Competition, March 14, 2020

March 4th, 2020

UPDATE March 27, 2020:
In order to honor the work and time our students put in to this, and following the guidelines provided by the state and national levels of the National History Day competition, HCPSS will hold a virtual Howard County National History Day competition.
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Scheduling update: The Offices of Secondary Social Studies and Gifted and Talented Education Programs, working under guidance from the Superintendent and in concert with the Howard County Health Department, have continued to monitor novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Due to some last-minute cancellations, the History Day schedule has been changed to accommodate the core program activities. At this time, we plan to have the competition, judge student projects, and nominate candidates for the Maryland State competition. However, it is necessary to cancel the Community Roundtable event and Awards assembly. Students will be directed to go home after judging occurs. Medals and special awards will be sent to the schools for distribution and the winners will be posted to the HCPSS website.

This year’s event includes 191 project entries presented by 268 students, representing 22 middle and 6 high schools. Over 85 teachers, Central Office staff, Board of Education members, elected officials, business partners and community members will serve as volunteers and judges to evaluate student entries. This year will feature the introduction of a Community Roundtable at 12:30pm, allowing students to engage in conversations with community leaders and elected officials.

To prepare for the History Day competition, students in grades 6–12 worked for many months conducting historical research on a self-selected topic that relates to this year’s National History Day theme of Breaking Barriers in History. A research question guided students to explore and interpret both primary and secondary resources. After gathering data and research, students analyzed the information, drew conclusions and began creation of the History Day project entry to submit for review at the local school level prior to entering the countywide competition.

For the Howard County regional competition, students will present entries in five categories: exhibit, performance, multimedia documentary, research paper and website. HCPSS awards 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in each category. In addition, The Council of Elders of Howard County, the Howard County Historical Society, PFLAG of Howard County, the Patapsco Heritage Greenway and the Howard County Women’s Bar Association will present Special Honors during our Awards Ceremony at 2:30pm on March 14th. The top two entries in each category from the Howard County regional contest will advance to the state contest, to be held May 2, 2020, at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The National History Day competition will be held June 14-18, 2020, at University Maryland, College Park.

The county History Day program is sponsored by the HCPSS Secondary Social Studies and Gifted and Talented Programs offices and is a collaborative effort among classroom social studies teachers, gifted & talented resource teachers, media specialists, central office support staff, libraries, colleges, universities, and local historical institutions.

For more information about Howard County History Day, contact Renee Bos, HCPSS Coordinator for Secondary Social Studies & Advanced Placement, at 410-313-6622.