Every year, about half a million students in grades four through 12 take part in National History Day events across the U.S. These young historians produce original websites, papers, documentaries, performances and exhibits that get showcased at the local, county, state and national levels.
The theme this year is “Taking a Stand in History,” and entries from throughout Orange County are set to be displayed and judged from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 11 at the 2017 National History Day-Orange County competition. The event, which is open to the public, will take place on OCDE’s campus in Costa Mesa.
The awards ceremony will follow on Wednesday, and we’ll be sure to post a link with this year’s winners. Meanwhile, here are some other education stories from the week:
- A neurosurgeon led students from Davis Magnet School in Costa Mesa on a tour of the human brain using Google virtual reality headsets.
- Congress has voted to rescind some provisions of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act related to school accountability, but the move is expected to have little impact on California’s accountability plans.
- Thousands of students from Orange, Riverside and L.A. counties convened at the Honda Center in Anaheim to participate in an annual science and hockey educational event hosted by the Anaheim Ducks.
- Along with shifting from an at-large voting system to area elections, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Education took action to realign its trustee boundaries in an effort to distribute their populations more evenly.
- Jazz musicians from the Orange County School for the Performing Arts in Santa Ana played their hearts out while opening for the U.S. Marine Corps’s premiere jazz ensemble.
- Laguna Beach Unified has become the latest OC district to recognize its top employees, selecting Top of the World Elementary School teacher Halle Davidson as teacher of the year and special education and student services specialist Debby Nash as classified employee of the year.
- A sixth-grader from Walter Elementary School in Anaheim submitted the winning design in a contest to graphically rebrand the Land Rover used by the Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership, also known as OC GRIP.
- And finally, the Orange County Department of Education has revamped its website, making OCDE.us more accessible, easier to navigate and more compatible with different devices and screens.