In the first semester of the school year, freshmen and sophomores took part in a unique, challenging, and quite possibly foreign experience.

Inspired by colleague Mark Rhomberg, many history teachers made it a class requirement for their students to enter in the 20th annual History Day Contest, a state-wide program sponsored by Constitutional Rights Foundation and the California Department of Education.

The unique aspect of History Day is the nearly limitless range of topics students choose to work with.

Participants select an event in history that deals with the 2003-2004 theme, “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.” Working alone or in groups of up to three people, participants produce a project in one of the following categories: historical paper, individual or group exhibit, individual or group performance, individual or group documentary, or individual or group website.

All entries were evaluated by a group of select judges, which included community leaders, teachers, and parents.

In addition to following strict contest rules and detailed guidelines during evaluation, judges conducted a personal interview with the contestants.

Students were asked questions such as the amount of time it took to develop their project, their reasons for choosing the topic, what they gained from the experience, and what they would change if given the opportunity.

The top three winners in each category moved on to the second elimination round conducted at the California State University of Northridge. Winners of this competition will partake in state finals, held in Sacramento from April 29 until May 2.

Even though the judges have come and gone and the colorful posters and display boards have vacated the school cafeteria, the commotion surrounding History Day is not quite finished yet; two of Uni’s students, Nicole Plowden and Raechel Perez, are still eligible to move on to the contest’s final phase of judging for their entry in the website category.

Wildcats embraced the History Day challenge, choosing creative topics and producing superior work. The variation of topics selected truly showed the diversity of our school population.

Entries ranged from the exploration of Lewis and Clark to the development and transformation of ice cream throughout the years. While some created artistic display boards complete with photos and props, others developed comprehensive websites incorporating the latest in technology and design.

Even though many students were somewhat intimidated by the challenge and lacked enthusiasm when they first began, most actually enjoyed the culminating experience of researching a topic and producing an informative project.

“By picking our own topics, we got to learn about things in history that will probably never be taught at school,” said freshman Anna Burilina, a third place winner in the documentary category.

Chances are this won’t be the last time Uni students will be hearing about History Day.

“We all really enjoyed it and will try to do it again next year,” said social studies teacher Paula Waxman.