The purpose of National History Day is to get kids to learn history and to be motivated. The months through October and February History Teacher Mr. John De Gree’s second period class have been working to complete a project board and a dramatic presentation to perform to the school.

“The key to succeeding in this is to work hard, dream big,  focus  on what you’re doing, and most importantly have fun and enjoy it,”  said Grettee Pham, seventh grader

According to De Gree, it is MacArthur’s second year participating in this event and the county since 1970.  This year there could be a chance that MacArthur could win N.H.D. as the program has improved.

“National History Day was a great experience and I wish the best for my fellow school peers,” said seventh-grader Samara Castro

It took a long time to put MacArthur’s site competition together, but four groups separated themselves at the competition on February 21.  A few weeks prior to the site competition, the students presented to social studies classes, the students practiced to their classmates and to De Gree.

According to De Gree, the theme for N.H.D. was somebody who took a stand in history, but the theme changes every year.  There were eight teams competing for the school competition, but only four made it through to go on and compete to the county competition, which is on March 11, 2017.  The four winning teams of MacArthur were groups of students presenting on Malala Yousafzai, Susan B. Anthony, Founding Fathers, and the dramatic presentation on Joan of Arc.

The group who created the Malala Yousafzai presentation consisted of Jessica Guzman, Mikayla Moreno, and Wendy Rodriguez.  The Susan B. Anthony group consisted of Samantha Hendrickson, Arleen Rufino, Sally Mai, Alondra Ibarra, and Melissa Marquez.  The group of Founding Fathers comprised of Samara Castro, Kiara Rios, Victoria Perez, Natalie Martinez, and Ariane De Guzman.  The dramatic presentation included Grettee Pham, Kenny Nguyen, Eloisa Vargas, Charles Garcia, and Lidia Ramirez.

De Gree said there was an opportunity for his class to also go to the Santa Ana Unified School District National History Day that is going to take place at Spurgeon Intermediate School on Thursday, March 16.  De Gree was offering students who go 100% score on two quizzes for this semester.

The MacArthur students who made it through to compete at the county level will prepare their final project to make sure the notes meet the requirements.  De Gree has said that the judges at the next level are very strict.  For example, if students do not have a resources on their notes, they will automatically get eliminated.

De Gree said, if more students get involved with National History Day, there is a possibility that next year it will be an elective.  

“Participating in National History Day was an opportunity for me to work with others as a temn and I’m also proud of my team because we made it through to complete in the county competition,” said seventh grader Mikayla Moreno