• Thursday-What'sUP March 28 - 12:25 am

The Keweenaw has a number of "budding" historians who recently competed here locally, with several moving on to the state finals in lower Michigan next month. Who knows, maybe some of these young people will appear someday on our new "Day in History" feature. Thanks to Erik Nordberg for supplying us with the following information:

A community showcase allowed the public to examine student projects at the region 1 competition for National History Day held recently in Houghton. An exhibit about the "The Triangle Factory Fire" by Calina Puuri and Brittany Nicholas, students from Jeffers High School in Painesdale, was one of several to qualify for the state finals in Mt. Pleasant on April 26.

Michigan History Day region 1 includes twelve counties in the Central and Western Upper Peninsula, including the communities around Marquette, Escanaba, Iron Mountain, Ironwood and the Copper Country. Students may participate without direct sponsorship from a school, though many schools do have teachers responsible for their own in-school History Day competition. The event is sponsored by the Historical Society of Michigan, the MTU Department of Social Sciences, the Quincy Mine Hoist Association, and the MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Planning for next year's event is already underway with the theme "The Individual in History." The entry deadline for the 2009 regional competition will be Monday, March 1, 2009, with the actual competition taking place Saturday, March 21, 2009. Information and entry forms will be available at the Historical Society of Michigan website or from regional coordinator Jane Nordberg at 906-337-4272 or via e-mail at jlnordbe@mtu.edu.

It's never too early to spread the word about this great program. Student participants don't have to be affiliated with a school to participate. Any adult -- parent, pastor, scout leader, historical society volunteer -- can sponsor a student project. Perhaps there's something you can do to engage a young mind with history?

Glad to see that many people involved in history. The U.P. is so rich in it.

There does appear to be incidental expenses involved in these projects, like display materials for the student, travel cost to the the events, perhaps entry fees, and so on. If these would be the role of sponsorship, perhaps Pasty Central could facilitate this by having a forum dedicated to students' project ideas and a way for potential sponsors to get in touch. I'll bet there are many of us Pasty Cam "regulars" who would be willing to pitch in with some $$ to help grow this.

How familiar this looks!! The Dr. and I judge the state history fair as well as the state science fair here in Texas every year. I know that if we lived back in the Copper Country, we'd be doing it there as well. It's always a lot of fun to see what students come up with for their projects. If anyone has a student fair of either kind in their area, by all means inquire about how to become a judge. It is tons of fun, you get to meet a lot of bright individuals, and usually the judges get cookies and drinks afterwards; what could be better?? ;-)

This is a really great idea! Let's keep it going as there is so much history in the Copper Country. I believe it was Harry Truman who said, "The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know!"

What a great idea. I wish they had this when I was at JHS. The closest thing we had was the local history smackdown, which was great! (Which I think they are still doing now!!) Way to go JHS!

Hey Katie, you can still be involved in a history project!!! Ralph Raffaelli and I are looking for old pictures and history of Painesdale, Trimountain, Baltic, SR, and Atlantic Mine to display in JHS, the old library, Methodist Church and whereever else we can find. We hope to have a bunch ready and displayed in time for the JHS alumni this summer. If you have the time, we have the project!!! If you have been around Houghton lately or done through the historic display at the Dee, then you have an idea of what we want to do. We will make the copies of anything that anyone has, no cost to you!

An update to today's notes, here are the winners of the National History Day Competition, Region 1:

Congratulations to all involved!
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY STUDENT COMPETITION

More than 80 students from grades 4 through 12 participated in the
District 1 regional competition for National History Day, held Saturday,
March 22 at Michigan Technological University. Students participated in a
variety of categories - everything from essays and exhibits on historical
topics, to creation of websites and documentary - around this year's theme
of "Conflict and Compromise in History."

A number of entries were selected by the judges to continue on to the
state finals, to be held April 26 at Central Michigan University in Mt.
Pleasant, and could continue to the national finals in Washington, DC.

Students qualifying for the state competition included:

- Rachel Wells, "Battle of New Orleans" (Father Marquette School,
Marquette-Youth Division/Individual Exhibit)
- Andy Oja and Luke Paul, "Steroids" (Hancock Middle School-Junior
Division/Group Website)
- Channing McCormack and Braun Rosenlund, "Chemical Warfare" (Dollar Bay
High School-Junior Division/Group Documentary)
- Neil Kauppila and Devin Kero, "Jackie Robinson" (Hancock Middle
School-Junior Division/Group Documentary)
- Kalle Markkanen, "1913-14 Strike" (Houghton Middle School-Junior
Division/Individual Exhibit)
- Amy Ruohonen, "Italian Hall Disaster" (Jeffers High School-Junior
Division/Individual Exhibit)
- Anna Backman and Marah Erickson, "The Atlas Powder Company" Dollar Bay
Middle School-Junior Division/Group Exhibit)
- Calina Puuri and Brittany Nicholas, "The Triangle Factory Fire" (Jeffers
High School-Junior Division/Group Exhibit)
- Cameron McKenzie, Jari Sague, and Joel Maki, "The Winter War" (Hancock
Middle School-Junior Division/Group Exhibit)
- Lori Petrelius, "The Holocaust: Hitler's Compromise" (Jeffers High
School-Senior Division/Paper)
- Trevor Curtis, "The Earth is Round and I'll Prove It" (Hancock High
School, Senior Division/Paper)
- Tyler Curtis, "The Worst Mid-Life Crisis Ever: The 1918 Flu Pandemic"
(Hancock High School, Senior Division/Paper)
- Anastasia Bury, "Flygirls! The Sky's the Limit" (Marquette High
School-Senior Division/Performance)
- Nicole LeClaire, "Clara Barton: Independent and Strong" (Dollar Bay High
School- Senior Division/Performance)
- Kirsti Wall, "Khmer Rouge: 2 Million Dead" (Hancock High School-Senior
Division/Individual Website)
- Claire Meneguzzo and Ben Hying, "Creation Science" (Dollar Bay High
School-Senior Division/Group Documentary)
- Jeff Dunstan and Dane Mattila, "Toledo War: The War that Never Started"
(Dollar Bay High School-Senior Division/Group Documentary)
- Marley Chynoweth, "Women, War Production and WWII" (Jeffers High
School-Senior Division/Individual Exhibit)
- Sarah Kelly, "Quiet No More: Women's Suffrage in America" (Jeffers High
School-Senior Division/Individual Exhibit)
- Hannah Rundman and Brittany Puska, "1913-14 Strike of Michigan's Copper
Mines" (Jeffers High School-Senior Division/Group Exhibit)

What an amazing and wonderful diversity of interest these students are showing!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Cool stuff. I love history. I should have been a history teacher. Oh, well, next time...

Enough for one day...I'm hittin' the sack. Talk to you tomorrow my friends.