CHS Juniors Win National History Competition

Four Columbia High School juniors were selected as grand prize winners in the annual "History Uncovered" competition, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, a publisher of history reference and research resources. 

Robinson presented the competition to his classes as an extra-credit project, and participating students spent many hours working both individually and as a team.

“I realized the need for our students to enter competitions like this when I spoke to the Yale admissions office about a stellar student who was wait-listed,” said Robinson. “The admissions officer suggested that although she was a great student, she needed to show that she could compete nationally to prove the level of her skills. Although it was too late for that particular student to benefit from a competition of this kind, I was determined to offer it to future classes.”      

The student teams could choose from five topics: U.S. History, U.S. Government and Civics, Ancient World History (through the late Middle Ages), Modern World History (1500 to present) and Geography. The entries could be in the form of an essay, slide show, animation, audio podcast or video. This year’s challenge question was “Select and defend the top 10 people, events or places that shaped the course of history.”

Shanika explained that her group created a PowerPoint presentation. “We first chose to make geography our topic and then described the major impact our selected topic had on the course of history,” she said. “We made 35 slides and at first I thought it would be too many, but I guess it was just right.”

The students did research and presented information on topics like how the Bering Strait was used in migration to the Americas and how Christopher Columbus introduced the New World to the Old World.

“At the end of the PowerPoint, we came up with the idea of creating a song,” said Briana. “We thought it would be a good ending, and it also helped to get all this information to stick in our heads. I found a program on the Internet that helped create an instrumental background and then we all came up with the lyrics.”

“When we found out we won, it didn’t sink in at first,” said Katie. “Then we realized what a big deal this was. It really is such an honor to win a national contest.”

Christina agreed. “I just didn’t realize how big winning this competition was. I think the prize money will be saved for college.”

Shanika explained why she originally decided to take on this project. “I wanted to prove to Mr. Robinson that I wanted to be a good student,” she said. “It was really a great experience.”