Submitted by Michelle Saber
The Bedford’s Bucs team at the 2017 National History Day competition — Lexia Cicone, Natalie Knight, Cordelia Houck, and Georgia Michelman — presented their Group Documentary project at the University of Maryland on Tuesday, June 13. While other Massachusetts participants take in a Nationals baseball game on Wednesday, June 14, the girls will attend a reception at the National Museum of African History and Culture before showcasing their documentary in the museum’s Oprah Winfrey Theater.
On Thursday morning, June 15, the winners of all categories will be announced during the National History Day Award Ceremony. (Editor’s Note: The awards ceremony will be live streamed at https://www.nhd.org/webcast beginning at 8 am.) Whatever the results, the team has been very happy for the experience.
With two winners per state, the Bedford team competed against 99 other groups to get to the national finals. There were ten rooms, each with ten Group Documentaries, as each of the groups showed its documentary and fielded questions from a panel of judges. The Bucs felt well-prepared for the questions they received, based on their experiences in the BHS History Fair and the MA History Day competition.
As with all other History Fair participants at Bedford High, the Bucs team put in a tremendous amount of time researching and preparing their presentation. With each round of competition, the team received valuable feedback which they constructively used to revise and improved their presentation. Over the months, their History Fair Advisor James Sunderland, who is chaperoning their trip, has guided them. Georgia, Natalie, Cordy, and Lexi also talked to members of past BHS teams that advanced to Nationals and got helpful suggestions from the School Committee and Superintendent Jon Sills after presenting to them shortly after winning at Massachusetts History Day.
The trip has been busy and exciting so far. Though all students are being housed in dormitories at the University of Maryland, they have been touring Washington, DC in their down time. Yesterday, after the competition, the team with other Massachusetts participants and their chaperones visited D.C. That evening, Mr. Sunderland surprised the girls with the good news that they were finalists.
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