Sacramento County History Day, a day devoted to commemorating history founded by Dr. Cathy Gorn in 1978, allows students to compete in a project-based competition based on  a theme that changes yearly. This year’s theme: Rights and Responsibilities in History.

Fifty-eight students from Vista del Lago competed in the Sacramento County History Day competition this year, and 19 moved on to state. These students include Maclean Ankhelyi, Darvesh Gorhe, Justin Hurst, Jonathan Darnell, Nicole Frydenlund, Justin Sue, Amanda Machado, Hani Lakkis, Aaron Ramsay, Lucie Chevreuil, Ruthu Nadgir, Sonja Daebelliehn, Gunnar Mattson, Reed Waxham, Weirui Xiao, Akshay Rathish, Mason Wright, Andrew Sickenger and Ismael Abadin. The champions will be competing in the state competition on April 24-27 in Riverside, Calif.

Kelly Baquero, Vista U.S history teacher, requires all of her advance placement students to  participate in the History Day competition. The participating students “gain a lot of research skills,” Baquero said, needing “solid, good research” such as primary sources, secondary  sources and  interviews versus, putting “it all into the glitz of the production.” Students can learn “twenty-first century career and college ready skills that they need” by participating in the competition.

The projects can be performances, papers, 2-dimensional projects, documentaries or websites on any historical event regarding this years theme.

Students are given time to check in and set up any displays or exhibits in the main gym, and performances are held in the theater.

The Sacramento County competition is an all-day event, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,  including check-in, setup, judging, public viewing time, lunch, awards and picking up of the projects.

 Winners of History Day competitions can win small prizes, such as money or medals, or, in cases of going to Nationals, multi-thousand dollar scholarships.

At the Sacramento History Day competition, students can also earn specific awards, including the 2-D Display History Award, the Board of Supervisor Award,the  Chinese History Award, the Civil War Award, the Filipino History Award, the Genealogical Research Award, the Japanese History Award, the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Award and the Sacramento History Award. Special awards range in value and are awarded by various historical societies and councils.

Congratulations to all who entered and won.