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Nation History Day 5th and 6th Graders

Fifth and sixth-grade students at New Vistas engage in the National History Day program as part of their language arts curriculum. This long-term research project challenges students to create a research project on a topic of their choice that connects to the theme, the 2023 theme being Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas. Students learn how to research utilizing secondary and primary sources, take notes, verify sources, create historical arguments, synthesize information, look for archival research, create annotated bibliographies, support their arguments with appropriate documentation and evidence, present their findings through an appropriate medium, and finally defend their work to a panel of judges. The process is complex and covers more than half of the school year. The end result is always phenomenal. Our students attain newfound skills that will propel them through future academic years.

 

A special congratulations to our current NVCE students and former graduates (who are able to come back to work with Mrs. Trepanier) who will be representing NVCE or their junior high and high schools at the NHD National Competition this June at the University of Maryland College Park.

 

NVCE students who win at the regional competition qualify to participate in the State National History Day competition each April. 6th Graders may qualify for nationals in Washington DC in June. Fifth graders compete in the youth division and can win at state.

 

Congratulations to every NVCE student who participated and competed. While we don’t always win, we always gain in confidence and experience that pay off for years to come.

Junior Individual Exhibit:

1st Place: Andrew Glassmeyer

2nd Place: Dorothy Zhou

 

Junior Individual Performance

1st Place Pratham Doopadhalli

2nd Place: Mia Llinas

3rd Place: Emily Westberg

 

Junior Individual Documentary

1st Place: Thanvi Vogruanti

2nd Place: Raven Burrell

3d Place: Samesh Saker

 

Junior Individual Website:

1st Place: Adrian Piel

2nd Place: Aarav Senilkumar

Senior Individual Website:

1st Place: Ethan Tsay

 

Senior Group Website:

1st Place: Daniel and Brad Wu

 

Senior Paper:

1st Place: Nealin Banejee

Speech and Debate Club: Celebrating A New Frontier at NVCE

Our inaugural year with our Speech and Debate Club has brought more than we could have imagined. As we started, we truly believed we would learn what the events were and what the speech and debate community was all about. We never imagined we would have a competitive middle school team competing at the Middle School State Tournament at the end of the year and bringing home trophies.

 

Early in the first semester of our Speech and Debate Club, it became clear that our students were bright, determined, and had a knack for argumentation. They showed up every week eager to learn, and when presented with an invitation to participate in a debate scrimmage outside of the school, our sixth graders eagerly accepted. We quickly realized we were the smallest and youngest middle school team which only strengthened our team bond. The other middle schools had between 21-30 participants; NVCE had nine. However, our students proved we might be small in number, but we are mighty in heart and skill. We came home from that scrimmage with more wins than expected and a newfound determination.

 

Our team worked hard through the year as our fifth and sixth graders worked together to make each other better.

At the Arizona Middle School Speech and Debate State Competition this past weekend, we again were the youngest and smallest; however, our student’s preparation and hard work managed to shine, with NVCE finishing third place in the overall middle school sweepstakes at the State Level.

 

Some high points to note from our year-

 

  • We have had multiple debaters in every quarter and semi-final round of Big Question Debate this year.

  • We have had an NVCE student in every Big Question debate final round this year.

  • We have one first place in two out of three final-round debates this year.

  • We won first place at the Minotaur Invitational Tournament despite having less than a quarter of the entries.

  • When the quarter-finals were announced at the state tournament, six out of the eight debaters were NVCE debaters.

  • The first time we entered a declamation competition, we won!

  • NVCE is now home to the Arizona Declamation Middle School State Champion.

 

We have been reflecting as we prepare for our final few speeches and debate events of the year and look toward next year. This experience has been one filled with challenges and newly developed skills, and excitement for the future. We have so much to celebrate and look forward to as we continue to build our team!

 

We thank Mrs. Trepanier for creating another way for New Vistas students to learn and excel.

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