Submitted by Mr. Jacob Cimino, VMS 8th Grade World History
WOODVILLE, WI – For the 15th year, all Viking Middle School (VMS) eighth grade students participated with schools from across the nation in a rigorous academic event called National History Day (NHD). Its primary purpose is to get students excited about all types of history while developing research, critical thinking, and presentation skills. For us, an additional goal is for students to recognize that history is a part of everyday life, not just something found in a textbook.
The NHD competition started at Viking Middle School in November 2023 in their 8th grade history class when students started picking topics to research based on this year’s annual theme: “Turning Points in History.”
All students presented their projects in January 2024 and were judged by our local high school AP (Advance Placement) History students who were organized by Mr. Jeremy Gerritts.
The AP students helped select the best 8th grade projects to move on to the Regional competition located at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire which was right before spring break.
The Regional Qualifiers from Viking were Daisy Austrum, Jackson Bauer, Leslie Burton, Gabriel Butler, Tessa Crowley, JT Dachel, Arianna George, Lucy Gray, Grant Halstead, Kenzie Hite, Adam Olson, Grady Johnson, Ava Kampin, Tucker Katelhut, Katie Kroening, Owen Lynum, Brylee Mcdonough, McKenzie Mckay, Lizzie Momchilovich, Sora Morales, Rhyan Nichols, Dawson Nigbor, Tess O’Connell, Colton Palmer, Addy Richardson, Molly Sarauer, Yaretzi Sarrengo, Olivia Waters, and Lou Willink.
Out of the 29 Regional participants, 16 students were selected by the judges to move on to the State competition which took place on Saturday April 20, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.
The VMS 8th grade NHD State qualifiers were Jackson Bauer, Arianna George, Gabriel Butler, Grant Halstaed, Mckenzie Hite, Ava Kampin, Tucker Katelhut, Owen Lynum, McKenzie McKay, Lizzie Momchilovich, Dawson Nigbor, Adam Olson, Colton Palmer, Olivia Waters, Louisa Willink, and Molly Sarauer.
This year VMS did exceptionally well at the State National History Day competition.
Arianna George was selected as a National Qualifier for her paper on the Bessemer Process and Lizzie Momchillovich was selected as a National Alternate for her paper on Buddy Holly.
Congratulations to all the Viking Middle School eighth grade students that worked so hard on their National History Day projects!
