Standing Bear High School students produced plenty of historical headlines this semester with their efforts on in-depth class projects.
Members of the Advanced Placement (AP) United States History class have been working on National History Day (NHD) projects for the first time. They have conducted detailed research about a range of topics for group and individual exhibits and presentations. The Grizzlies competed in the school’s first district contest alongside students from Southeast and East high schools on March 31.
Jasmine Shulyak and Janet Kovalenko said they have enjoyed the new activity. They created a project about the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District case, which addressed free speech rights of students in public schools. In addition to sifting through dozens of primary and secondary sources, they also corresponded with Mary Beth Tinker, one of the three main student petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court case.
“I think that this project is going to help us broaden our perspective on how the world works and stuff like that, but it’s also helping teach us how to do thorough research and looking at both primary and secondary documents,” Shulyak said. “It’s been great.”
Addie Kahle said she has also had fun with her NHD project. She explored the lives of African American women who became important contributors in the Space Race. One of the people she researched is Katherine Johnson, who analyzed the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard’s groundbreaking Freedom 7 space mission.
“It’s just cool to go behind the scenes and learn what they did and how it happened,” Kahle said. “I’ve really enjoyed learning how they overcame a lot of adversity to accomplish some really great things.”
Standing Bear social studies teacher Kyle Beacom said those academic breakthroughs are why NHD is important. Beacom began leading NHD activities at Southeast in 2012 and helped many Knights earn district, state and national awards. He wanted to give Standing Bear students the same types of successful opportunities when he started teaching at the new school.
“It’s been good to bring it over here and see kids really dig deep in their research,” Beacom said. “A lot of them fall in love with their topics, which is fun.”
The Grizzlies are joining one of the largest social studies activities in the country. More than 500,000 students in grades 6-12 work on NHD projects each year. Nebraska students have been participating in NHD since 1985.
Juniors Maddie Kulhanek, Orla Blake and Kavai Dodworth said it has been exciting to figure out the details of their research project about women’s suffrage. They wrote a play about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who worked to gain equality for women in the United States.
“This has been really fun to do,” Kulhanek said. “I think we’ve all learned a lot from doing this project.”
Beacom required everyone in the class to find at least ten sources for their NHD project, which meant the three Grizzlies had to gather a minimum of 30 documents.
“It’s a lot of sources,” Dodworth said. “It’s been challenging, but it’s made the project a lot better.”
Beacom said he has enjoyed watching students elevate their critical thinking and project management skills. They have also discovered how organization, dedication and curiosity can lead to successful outcomes.
“I’m hoping to replicate college-level projects where it takes an entire semester to complete,” Beacom said. “I’m also wanting them to learn things like grit, some perseverance, working through things that are tough like annotated bibliographies.”
Blake said she was happy to be one of the pioneers of Standing Bear’s NHD program.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun with this,” Blake said. “It’s definitely been a good thing.”
LPS has many social studies opportunities for K-12 students. Visit home.lps.org/socialstudies to learn more about activities at every grade level.
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