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Schools

The days of yore needn't bore

The Pinellas History Fair makes an often dry topic come alive for students, who may even get a job offer out of it.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published April 6, 2005

DUNEDIN - Daylynn Washnock and Katie Woellner got more than they bargained for when they entered the eighth annual Pinellas County History Fair. Encouraged by Dunedin High School history teacher and fair coordinator Alan Kay, they expected to learn a lot about their chosen subject.

What they hadn't counted on was a job offer from St. Petersburg History Museum director Will Michaels, who was one of the judges.

The Dunedin High students won a senior level award Friday in the group exhibit category for their project, titled "The Original 29: Code Talkers Secret," and are among 43 students who will proceed to the state history fair in Tallahassee on May 5.

They haven't decided yet on the job offer.

Kay, who pioneered the Pinellas County fair after coordinating a similar effort in Hillsborough County, said this isn't the first time a judge has offered a history fair participant a job. Every time it happens, he becomes more convinced that the annual event, which takes place at Dunedin High School, is the best way for children to appreciate history at a "local and personal level."

A longtime advocate of hands-on educational experiences, Kay, who was the school district's Outstanding Educator in 2004, thinks there is no better way to teach history than to make it come alive for students. That's why he has nurtured the fair since its 1998 debut, when only 28 students from Dunedin High participated.

The next year, 150 students entered projects. Southside Fundamental School became the first middle school to enter projects in 2001, and Largo and Oak Grove middle schools got on board in 2002. Two students went on to the national competition that year, and one project ended up in the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C.

This year, about 250 students entered school-based history fairs, Kay said. About 150 advanced to the district-level competition.

The Pinellas event is part of the National History Day program, which draws more than 700,000 middle and high school students and 40,000 teachers annually. Each year, the national center announces a theme that requires students to conduct research so they can write papers, construct three-dimensional projects, perform plays, design computer programs or create media presentations.

This year's projects ranged from exhibits on the Battle of New Orleans, the Pony Express and the San Francisco earthquake to a performance about Baron von Steuben at Valley Forge. The top two projects in each category will advance to the state fair in Tallahassee. Each state will send its top two projects in each category to the national competition, which is held at the University of Maryland in June.

This year, Shorecrest Preparatory School, Southside Fundamental, and Dunedin, Largo, Tarpon Springs and Dixie Hollins high schools entered. Students from each school won a prize in one or more categories.

Southside Fundamental students, under the direction of teacher Barbara Thomas, began working on their projects in October. Several created PowerPoint presentations. Topics included American Sign Language, commercial flight and soccer.

"It's outside the curriculum," Thomas said of the fair. "They're learning about things that are above and beyond what they do in the classroom."

One of Kay's goals is to raise awareness of the fair. He is working on a marketing plan that includes a video that will be sent to all middle and high schools in the district. He also is writing a grant that he hopes will make it possible for more teachers to get involved.

[Last modified April 6, 2005, 01:07:18]