SEQUIM — Three of seven Sequim students who went to the National History Day Competition in Washington, D.C., last week came home with third-place finishes.
Freshman Whitney Macaulay won in the individual documentary category, and juniors Rosie Billes and Jon Chrisman took home honors in group documentary.
Each category had 100 entries representing the best history research projects from schools nationwide.
The top three finishers in each category “are considered champions, and they go up and get a medal,” said Todd Beuke, a history teacher at Sequim Middle School who spearheads the district’s participation in the contest.
“It’s a big, hairy deal.”
The contest stems from research projects students work on during the school year.
After picking a topic, students write a thesis statement that takes a stand on the topic and then delve deeply into it, mainly using primary sources such as letters, diaries and government documents.
Students that want to compete take it several steps further, documenting dozens of sources and turning their research into a display, documentary, dramatic presentation or thick historical paper.
Those who make the state and national meets are usually doing research at the college level or above.