From a group of more than 600,000 students from all over the world who participated in National History Day, only a select few have been picked to move on to the state competition. This year, CHS Honors Sophomore World History classes had the opportunity to partake in this competition which has the theme of leadership and legacy. This year’s theme requires students to research leaders who have made an impact on the world. 11 of these sophomores had the privilege to move on to nationals to compete with those who had the best entries. Entries could be either a documentary, performance, exhibit, paper, or website, in which it must display the students’ knowledge of their topic.

At CHS, Honors Sophomore World History classes were expected to develop an entry that had involved both their creativity and expertise about their topic. Students needed to utilize information from primary and secondary source documents in order to form their entries and were tested on the significant person that they had chosen. On Dec. 17, 2014, students displayed their entries at Taylor Hall.

The students had been judged based on historical quality, relation to the theme, and clarity of presentation. With their entries having scored the highest out of all three criterias -were able to move on and compete in a more challenging level. On March 14, those who were chosen to move on to the county level visited Azusa Pacific University. With students from all over the Orange County area, the standards and expectations were high, but the 11 of sophomores had impressed the judges and are moving on to state.

On May 8, they will be going to Rocklin, CA for two days to have their entries judged. Those who advance will head to the finals at the University of Maryland, College Park for a week long event. In this final stage, those who have the best entries will be able to obtain special prizes that relate to their topic.

Through hard work and dedication, these students have been able to advance past both CHS judging and the county judging. As state finals slowly approaches, they look forward to presenting their hard work to the judges. After spending all year preparing, creating, and revising, the perfect entry, it is a thrill for these CHS students to be able to present their projects on a statewide stage.