History Day at CCSU: JFK’s Irrigation Nation Falls Short of Qualifying for Nationals

Written by Brian Zawodniak; posted by Tim Jensen

It was a gorgeous April 27 on the campus of Central Connecticut State University. The campus was abuzz with over four hundred middle and high school students hurrying to register their projects and set up before opening ceremonies. There was a sort of semi-disorganized harmony to the whole morning, but that soon faded once the judging kicked in and all History Day participants but on their game face.

Four JFK students qualified for the state contest out of the twenty-three that entered the competition. Sydney Nash, Ashley Smith, Grace O’Neil, and Kevin Stroiney took first place in the March 16th regionals at Manchester High School in the junior group exhibit category. 

The topic this year was irrigation.  The trick was to prove that irrigation was a turning point in history as that was the theme for this year’s contest. They did that very well, according to the judges. The team even took their poster and re-fashioned it so that it fit with the 500 word limit.

So what happened at states if they did so well at regionals? The judging is a bit more intrusive at the state level, and the team fell short on distinguishing between primary and secondary sources in their annotated bibliography.

Considering that this was the first year that the JFK Talented and Gifted Program competed in History Day is in and of itself a turning point. Next year, the students will better prepare for the rigors and requirements involved in the competition. They will start researching earlier and put more time and energy into making their projects ready for rigors and requirements of nationals. That will be our goal. We will aim high.