The Hartford Regional History Day Contest, which was hosted on March 24 at Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) Two Rivers Magnet Middle School, was a program for students in grades sixth through twelfth, which encouraged exploration of different areas of history such as local, state, national, and world history.

Students had the ability to engage in in-depth research and in final, present what they had learned in a competition against others.

Prior to the competition, students were able to come together in the summertime to select their topics, get background information, and begin the research process, allowing themselves enough time to complete and prepare for the competition that happened later in March.

“After choosing our topics, one of the earliest things we had to do to prepare was to contact any experts on our topic. This was a long and brutal process, but in the long run was a learning experience,” sophomore Frank Fishman said.

With the amount of time given to the students, the work was finalized and the students were ready for the competition to begin.

“It was truly a rewarding experience, no matter how stressful it was at times. Each project was extremely engaging, and it made history come to life whether it was a performance, documentary, exhibit, or paper,” senior club president Michelle Mordasiewicz said.

During the day of the presentations, students not only presented their own work, but were able to view the many other projects that students created. While the students got the opportunity to view many of the historic view points of others, the teachers were also able to experience the day from their own point of view.

“As advisors, we found it exciting and fulfilling to see the product of student’s hard work during the year at the History Day Competition. It was great to see the variety of projects and topics that our students and other regional competitors created,” History Day Club advisor Kara Trubia said.

Additionally, co-advisor Emma Tuthill was able to see the day as an experience of growth for both teachers and students.

“This event was extremely valuable for students because they were able to learn research and presentation skills that are important for any career they pursue in the future. It was also valuable for us as teachers because we are considering using a style of discussion from the event this year in our world history classes,” Tuthill said.

A total of six projects from the high school made it to the state level and will compete at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) on April 28.