Two hundred fifty students came to SDSU this weekend to compete in the SD National History Day state contest that was held at SDSU. National History Day is an educational program involving teachers and students in 6th -12th grade. Students do research and develop projects to showcase that research at regional competitions around the state. First and second place winners from the state contest will now move on to the national contest at the University of Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

This is the first year the contest was held in Brookings, hosted at the SDSU Student Union. More than fifty community volunteers came forward to judge projects and help in other ways. A number of those volunteers were SDSU students, and we very much appreciated your help, also. The event was a wonderful testament to the hard work of teachers and students around the state and the giving spirit of so many fantastic volunteers from around the SDSU and Brookings area.

The NHD program basically has no funding sources and depends on the generosity of many organizations and individuals. Sponsors of the program this year are the SD Ag Heritage Museum and the SD Humanities Council. Funding for services – from paying the national membership fee to curriculum materials and fees for the contest- is all raised independently through different sources. This year we received funds from the Larson Foundation, SDSU Provost’s office, Northwestern Energy, Fishback Family Foundation, GFWC, Wachovia Financial offices and the Brookings Optimists. Thank you to all who supported us and those of you who participated and helped in any way. I won’t try to mention all of the individuals, but you know who you are and I hope you know how much we appreciate your help at the contest.

Special thanks to the folks at the SDSU Union who helped us provide a new home for the state contest. It was a great place to hold the contest and we had a wonderful day. Thank you!

Congratulations to all of the winning students who shared their research with us at the History Day contest. We look forward to seeing more projects next year when students study “Innovations in History.”

Sincerely,

Mac Harris, Ag Heritage Museum

Kathie Tuntland, NHD Coordinator