National History Day

First off, I've spent too much time trying to get the layout of this decent, with the text and lots of pictures, but it keeps changing it's looks between the screen where I'm creating it, and the published screen. Probably b/c of the blog background, but I don't have any more time to work with it, so I apologize that it's not the easiest thing to read this time.

It all started 3 yrs ago, because Alana's ride to school each morning got them there very early. History Club met before school, so Alana and Debra thought "Why not?" and joined. Seemed like a positive thing to do when you're waiting for school to start anyway. And luckily, a great teacher was in charge.

For the most part, it was a pretty un-intense club, that didn't take too much time. Except of course the couple weeks before History Day every March. This was Alana's 3rd year, and Hanna's 1st year to be involved, and they really enjoyed the "intelligent" company with the other students in the club. They also actually seemed to really like working and researching their projects, and would do it over Christmas break. Every year, they've entered the group performance category. Except this year, Alana did an individual performance.

They both did great though, placing
1st at regionals, and then Hanna and Brinnley placed 5th at state (against other 6th-8th graders), and Alana placed 4th at state. Our region of the state is not very competitive in the performance category, but by the time they got to the state level, it was very competitive. Most students prefer to do a website/display/documentary. But overall throughout the rest of the state, they probably went against a few hundred entries, in March and April.


I thought Hanna and Brinnley had a bit of a challenge, trying to do their group performance and act out several different parts, with just the 2 of them. But they did a great job. Some of the other Prosser kids that did performances, did them with Alana 2 years ago, and they placed 5th at state as 6th graders too, with a presentation on Sacajawea. And by this year, I can see how they have progressed so much and improved their stage presence/voices.


Hanna and Brinnley did "Anne Frank. Child of the Holocaust." Both girls have grandmothers with close ties to WWII. Brinnley's grandma's family hid and lived in the forest for years, hiding from the Germans, and Hanna's grandma's friend was classmates with Anne Frank before the war. They talked to both women and learned a lot about life back in War torn Germany.














Alana's entry this year was "Narcissa Whitman. Faithful Actions, a Surviving Legacy."
















Narcissa Whitman was a Presbyterian missionary, along with her husband and a few other missionaries, that trekked across the USA and formed a mission near Walla Walla, Washington, where they served and taught the Native Americans that lived near there. She was one of the very first females to settle in the west, so she gave hope to hundreds of other women, that they too, could live a "civilized" life in the west.


After doing so well, the Whitman Mission State Park even asked Alana if she'd go over there to give some performances at the Visitor Center.

Thanks again to a great History Club advisor who supported them through all this! All those extra hours when it came down to the wire. And his wife too! And, the honors teacher who helps all the 8th grade honors class with their entries too.


In the picture above, of Narcissa praying, I persuaded Alana to include a segment, where she sang part of "Rock of Ages", after the part when Narcissa's baby Alice drowned in the river. Alana was really nervous to sing, but I think it added a lot to her presentation. (And ironically, for both Alana and Hanna, it was a challenge to keep under the 10 minute time limit!)