ore than 2,000 qualifiers for the National History Day contest June 12-16 at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus.
About 30 of the honorees were from Alaska. Haines entries included Zayla Asquith-Heinz, website, “The Choice to be Violent or Diplomatic: How Human Evolution has and will Affect the Choice to be Violent or Diplomatic;” Alexandria Chapin, website, “The Trail of Death and Doom: The Trail of Tears – The Greatest Test of All;” Autumn Gross and Kayley Swinton, group exhibit, “You Throw Like a Girl!: The Debate Over Title IX;” and Corinna Hill and Jenae Larson, group exhibit, “What’s All the Bark About?: The Debate Over Logging in the Tongass National Forest.” Swinton did not attend the national event.
The students started their projects in Lisa Andriesen’s seventh and eighth grade classes, advanced through local and state competitions, and hosted car washes and dessert auctions to fund their trip.
They also traveled to Washington, D.C., during their time away from Haines, met U.S. senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Don Young, and visited Arlington National Cemetery, monuments, the National Archives, Pentagon, Smithsonian and White House.