History Club Competes at Regional Level

On Saturday, 18 March, students involved in the history club competed in the annual regional competition. Students from both regions eight and nine combined to meet at Messiah University, near Mechanicsburg. This move comes after it was held at Kutztown University for the past several years.

The theme for the competition this year was Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas. Possible entries included a written paper, custom website, exhibit, documentary, or short performance. 

 “I think the competition went great! We got first place in our category, and we get to go to states,” FAHS student Megan Stone said. 

Many months of work went into putting together the final exhibit, with a degree of trial and error.

“We all did our parts and helped others when finished. Sometimes, when work needs to be done, we stay at school until 5-6 p.m. There were lots of parts that needed to be completed for the exhibit to be assembled,” FAHS student Tony Zhang said. 

Once the exhibit was completed, it was time to get ready for the judging itself.

“My favorite part was actually the presentation to the judges. The conversational environment quelled the stress that I had leading up to it. I felt confident in what I was saying. I’m so glad of the skills this opportunity has had me develop,” FAHS student AiLing Chen said.

“After getting past regionals, we are going to states in Scranton in April. If we win states, we go into Nationals in Maryland in June,” FAHS student Ian Bieber said.

Anticipation has certainly been building on the path to the state competition. 

“My least favorite part of the competition was the amount of time between our interview and the awards ceremony. It was very nerve-wracking not knowing our results all day,” FAHS student Alaina Smith said. 

Even after getting first place in the regional competition, there is still room for improvement in preparation for the state level. 

The History Club and its advisor extend special thanks to FAHS technology education teacher Jonathan Heck for providing much-needed help at various times with cutting the foam pieces for the project.