Regina students advance to finals of national history contest

Regina Dominican High School has several students who successfully competed in the Chicago Metro History Fair and have qualified to advance to the National History Day Contest this June in Maryland.

The National History Day Contest encourages more than half a million students around the world to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice.

Students enter these projects at the local level (here it is at the Chicago Metro History Fair), with top students advancing to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. From each state only two entries from the 10 categories compete in the Nationals.

Regina Dominican sophomore Anne Berg qualified with her entry in the Documentary category, titled The WPA School Mural Project: A Missed Educational Opportunity. The film explores the impact and contribution of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Art project and the fact that so few schools leveraged the works (which they housed and do still today) as a tool to teach students about that era and the impact the initiative had on our nation’s culture and growth.

Sophomores Grace Langfels, Kayla Smith, Maggie Stutz, and Mia Touhy will also be headed to the National History Day contest for their entry in the Performance category titled The Our Lady of Angels School Fire: The Fire That Sparked the Improvement of Fire Codes. Their presentation is a re-enactment detailing the 1958 tragedy, specifically how the day unfolded, what contributed to the fire’s rapid spread, why students were unable to escape and how it ultimately affected change in fire code regulations.