OXFORD, Miss. – With National History Day Competition
scheduled this weekend at the University of Mississippi,
Joseph Ward wants to make it clear to teenage history buffs
everywhere that it is OK to love history.
“An event like this can signal to high school students that
they really can pursue their love of history in depth in a
university setting like ours,” said Ward, chair of the UM
Department of History. “Our faculty, grad students and
undergrads will be there to really encourage students to do
just that.”
The competition is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday (Feb.
16) in Conner and Holman halls. The public is invited to
attend at no charge.
Some 100 students are expected to attend the event, most of
them juniors and seniors, said Greg Earnest, academic
competitions coordinator in the Division of Outreach and
Continuing Education. Although most participants are from
north Mississippi, students from as far away as the Gulf
Coast will travel to the competition.
Contestants must complete a 100-question history exam,
which includes American history, geography, Mississippi
history, world history and government. Every participating
student must take this exam regardless of other areas in
which the student may choose to compete, including a
game-show style brain bowl, video presentation, research
paper, display/poster competition and computer project.
“The brain bowl part is a lot of fun,” said Michael
Namorato, professor of history who launched the event about
four years ago. “And some of the displays are really
impressive. One year, students built replicas of the
Colosseum and the Pantheon in Rome. The work that went into
it was really impressive.”
The first-place winner among seniors will receive a
scholarship toward six credit hours, while second- and
third-place winners will receive scholarships for three
credit hours. The scholarships may be used for an
intersession or a summer term at UM. High scoring
non-seniors on the history exam will receive a $750
scholarship for first place, $500 for second and $250 for
third to be used for the Summer College for High School
Students program or the Summer Academy program this
summer.
“But participation in such a competition is its own
reward,” Ward added. “All of the students who will
participate in this event deserve recognition for their
efforts.”
Namorato said the event affords him and others the chance
to talk with students about majoring in history, and
related career prospects.
“Most of the time, high school students ask me, ‘What am I
going to do with a history degree?'” Namorato said. “There
are a lot of areas open to history graduates in business,
government and so on. A history degree shows you have the
discipline to do research and an understanding of how
things progress over time.”
The competition is sponsored by the Office of High School
Academic Competitions and Special Events, the departments
of history and classics, and the Center for the Study of
Southern Culture.
“This is part of our effort at the university to reach
out,” Ward said. “We really enjoy doing anything that
connects back to younger students because they’re the
future.”
For more information, contact Greg Earnest at 662-915-3034
or visit
http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/youth/History?Competition.
For assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7283.
To learn more about the Department of History, visit