*Revised*
CLEVELAND— Birchwood students had another excellent showing at the National History Day competition in June at the University of Maryland. The students reached the national level after placing in the top spots at both the district competition at Case Western Reserve University in March and the state competition at The Ohio State University in April. At the national competition, Birchwood students were up against the best from all 50 states, American Samoa, Guam, and Department of Defense schools in Europe. Four Birchwood students advanced to the finals, and Birchwood was one of only three schools in the nation to have three entries advance to the finals. Ben W placed sixth overall, with an individual documentary on Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press. Zaeem M and Clare P finished seventh overall with their group performance on the Marshall Plan. Nathan C finished thirteenth with an individual website on Alan Freed, a well known Cleveland deejay. Amir F narrowly missed qualifying for the finals, coming in third in his preliminary judging room and receiving high marks for his paper on Garrett Morgan, a Cleveland inventor.
The National History Day Competition is an educational program which requires students to conduct primary and secondary research on a particular theme and present their work through creative and scholarly projects. After a series of district and state contests, the program culminates with a national competition. Birchwood School has produced 152 national qualifiers and 68 national finalists over its history.
