History Day

[pegkerr]

Fiona spent all day today at the State competition for National History Day. She had competed at her school and at the regional level, so making it to State was a pretty big deal--she didn't get that far last year. She gave me a call partway through the afternoon, excited, to tell me that they had made it past the first round and so had a shot to go to Nationals.

This year's theme was "Triumph and Tragedy." She was on a team that had chosen to do a dramatic presentation about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire disaster. What I think made their presentation particularly good was that they placed it within the context of the strike for better working conditions that happened just before the fire, and how that framed the context of the fire and affected the subsequent trial (where the owners weaseled out with acquitals, and in the subsequent civil suit only had to pay a measly $75 for each of the 146 deceased factory workers).

Anyway, she was very hopeful, and so was subsequently crushed when they didn't win. What particularly made it hard to swallow was that the announcer announced the Honorable Mentions and then said, "And now the remaining teams will be going to Nationals," which meant that they were jumping around with joy--and then the announcer corrected himself, saying, "Oh, sorry, we miscounted and have three more Honorable Mentions to announce"--and then they were called up. Talk about disappointment. She came home, exhausted, and then cried in my arms for almost an hour, poor thing. They had worked so hard, and I felt so badly for her.

But (I must admit) I am also secretly and selfishly rather relieved. I mean, yes, it would have been absolutely fantastic if they could have gone. But Lord--the possibility that she might actually go to Nationals was not even on my radar screen when she left this morning. And we would have somehow had to come up with the money for travel to Washington D.C. in June, which would have been extremely difficult during this period of unemployment.

Still, she's awfully disappointed.

I think she may try again at the High School division level next year.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lindsay_/]

I loved history fair in middle school and, although I competed in High School, my school wasn't nearly as supportive and my projects suffered as a result. But really, it's such a good way to learn research and also a way to be a REAL historian, to take an angle on historical events and present your hypothesis. I definitely encourage Fiona to continue in the future.