My Nationals Experience: Ishan Prasad

I've participated in National History Day for two years now. In 8th grade, my social studies teacher encouraged us to create a project for NHD. I decided to give it a try. A couple of my friends and I chose to create an exhibit together. The teacher helped us choose a topic and gave us some tips on where to start our research. We finally decided that our topic would be the Cuban Missile Crisis. We did extensive research on this event and I really learned a lot, not only about the topic but about the techniques that are used to interpret history and create an argument. Processes like this really helped me in my first year of high school, as well as creating my second project: an individual paper. I was lucky enough to have been selected to compete at the national competition for both years and have many great experiences. 

One of the first experiences I had was at the opening ceremony. At the 2019 ceremony, we were fortunate to hear a civil rights activist speak. The activist talked about her life in the South and her involvement in Freedom Summer. It was really interesting to hear a personal account of the events that occurred, as well as her unique perspective on the Civil Rights Movement. Overall, National History Day has provided me, as well as many other students, a unique opportunity to meet important figures and to listen to their ideas. 

Another fun experience that  had at National History Day was the pin exchange. Milling around, in search of pins from other states gives you the chance to talk to participants from all over the country. It also teaches one the great art of bargaining! This year I came home with over 40 pins from other states!

The interviews with judges are also, believe it or not, quite enjoyable. Over the last couple of years, I have interviewed with judges at the regional, state, and national competitions. The judges are really friendly and they are truly interested in our projects. I liked both the seminar format for papers as well as the one-on-one interviews for exhibits (and papers at Nationals).

The capstone experience is, of course, the awards ceremony. The "Parade of States" is exhilarating. We met early in the morning, armed with our Connecticut banners and flags and joined all of the other states (and international teams to boot!) as we marches around the stadium. Seeing all of those different states and participants in one place really made me realize how fortunate I was to be there. It's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. This year, at Nationals, my paper won second prize, another Connecticut paper won first prize, and several other Connecticut projects received prizes as well. This rare occurrence in the paper category proved how stiff the competition was this year in Connecticut but also shows how devoted and amazing our teachers are to helping us and helping understand the feedback from CHD staff and judges. Their time, effort, and ideas inspired us!