March 1, 2006
Students act out life of Nobel
National History Day Competition held Saturday
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With a fake beard, skateboard, Cabbage Patch doll, beakers, cardboard detonator and music by AC/DC, Ethan Lucas and Luke Friedli delved into the life of Alfred Nobel.
The eighth grade students at East Junior High School acted out the life of the scientist, inventor of TNT and founder of the Nobel Prize for judges as part of the district Michigan National History Day Competition.
Held Saturday at West Junior High, the event drew eighth grade students from East Junior High for the junior division and ninth grade students from West Junior High for the senior division. More than 30 students worked solo or in teams to present exhibits, historical papers or dramatic presentations such as Lucas and Friedli's.
The pair acted out the highlights of Nobel's life and threw themselves into their reenactment.
"It fascinated us, kind of how he affected everyone," said Friedli of their choosing Nobel for the project.
While history is not either of their favorite subjects, they enjoyed fleshing out the life of Nobel, down to the Swedish accent. They estimate that they put 15-16 hours into their presentation, including finding or making props and writing a script summarizing Nobel's work.
"He thought that if everyone knew they could be killed in a second, they wouldn't go to war," said Lucas of Nobel's peaceful visions after discovering the formula for TNT.
Delving into a pivotal historical figure illustrates the theme of this year's nationwide contest: "Taking a Stand in History: People, Ideas and Events." Winners at the district level will go on to state competition in April at Grand Valley State University in Allendale. Winners at that event will qualify for the national event held at College Park, Maryland, in June.
"By letting the kids choose what they want to do in their work, it really lets them shine," said Eunice Brady, an eighth grade history teacher from East Junior High, which had ten exhibits at the event.
"This is only the second year we've done it and both Inara [Kurt, a ninth grade history teacher at West Junior High] and I would like to se a full-blown program," she added. "But it is time consuming for both the students and families, the teachers as well."
Kurt and Brady assign their students a historical research project earlier in the school year. Qualifying students at the school level may then bring the result of that project to the district Michigan History Day Competition.
For Kurt, the results on display Saturday are wonderful.
"I'm just amazed," she said. "I know they're our kids but I'm going: 'Wow!'¡"
This year's competition featured an unusually high number of historical papers, including one on Frederick Jackson Turner by James O'Brien, a ninth grade student at West Junior High. Writing about a relatively obscure figure, O'Brien chose Turner after thumbing through an entertainment dictionary and seeing a reference to a man he had never heard of before. He chose to present his research findings in paper form because writing is a strong suit.
O'Brien enjoyed this hands on path to learning history and found it exciting to discover something new.
"It did help me learn a lot more because I had to explore this big subject and combine it into such a small paper," he said of the nine-page result he wrote over three weeks. "I liked his ideas about the West and how it's built our character and things like that."
Four judges, divided into two teams, went from exhibit to exhibit Saturday, looking over the work and asking the students questions. They asked about motivation, research methods, findings and other general questions that let the student open up about their project.
"The interaction with the judges is invaluable," said Brady. "It's such an experience for the students, they have to relate to the adults."