Ohio History Day
Ohio History Day is a year-long research program for social studies students in grades 6-12. Students support a thesis related to the official theme and defend their work at the regional level with an opportunity to advance to state and national competitions. The program encourages authentic, student-driven historical research focused on identifying and using primary and secondary sources to creatively present a student’s own vision of history.
I coordinated the Region 4 Ohio History Day contest for students in five Northeast Ohio counties, which involved:
- Identifying and recruiting prospective participants
- Maintaining correspondence with teachers, students, judges, and team members
- Coordinating and leading classroom presentations and school contests
- Supervising Youngstown State University graduate assistants
- Updating the Region 4 OHD website
- Creating and maintaining YSU History Day Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts and developing a social media policy
- Recruiting judges from Youngstown State University, local organizations, and the community
- Creating guides for teachers, students, and judges
- Managing the physical set-up for the contest and supervising 50 volunteer judges on the day of the contest
- Writing press releases and promoting the contest to the general public
Despite declining numbers in recent years, I was able to hold participation steady, and YSU History Day attracted 250 students from twelve schools, including three new schools. In addition, I identified ten new schools to target the following year for participation based on interest expressed by teachers I had contacted.
