[322] MTSU To Host District Competition of National History Day Friday

Feb. 22, 2011
CONTACT: Tom Tozer, 615-898-2919

MTSU TO HOST DISTRICT COMPETITION OF NATIONAL HISTORY DAY FRIDAY

MURFREESBORO—The College of Liberal Arts and Department of History at Middle Tennessee State University will play host to the Middle Tennessee History Day District Competition of National History Day, Friday, Feb. 25, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building.
Youngsters in grades 6 through 12 will display their contest entries, which fall into five general categories: documentary, websites, papers, exhibit and performance. Topic categories must be in keeping with the annual theme, “Debate and Diplomacy.” Special awards also will be given in five categories: Women’s History, History of the Middle East, African American History, Holocaust History and the History of Science.
A total of 249 students representing 20 schools and two home schools will be participating.
The general public is invited to campus this Friday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to view the students’ work.
The Middle Tennessee district competition allows each school to send two entries each in the categories of documentary, exhibit and performance. Additionally four entries are permitted from each school in each category for papers and website design.
District winners will advance to the state competition in Nashville on April 2. Those placing 1st and 2nd at that level will advance to the national contest at the University of Maryland in June.
The NHD competition is the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded history program for students in grades 6 through 12, according to the National History Day Fact Sheet (www.nhd.org). More than a half-million students participate every year. Students have gone on to careers in business, teaching, law and medicine, disciplines that require the skills that NHD strives to nurture and develop in young people.
MTSU and the Department of History have joined other universities, historical societies, humanities councils and other agencies in encouraging young Tennessee scholars to become engaged in history and civic affairs.
NHD began in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1974, and became a national organization in 1980. In 1992, NHD headquarters moved from Ohio to Washington, D.C.

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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.




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