Eighth-Graders Rule National History Day!

Once again, our exceptional eighth-graders excelled at the Southeastern Regional National History Day competition this past Saturday!

Out of over 500 students and more than 190 projects submitted, our young historians showcased their excellence in research, presenting, and analysis as they claimed 13 of the 27 possible slots at the state competition in Madison.

Please join me in congratulating all of our NHD scholars for their hard work and dedication. A special thanks goes to eighth-grade history teacher Chuck Taft for his help and guidance on NHD projects, and to the many faculty members and parents who assisted our students along the way.

These projects are the culmination of countless hours of research and preparation, and I couldn’t be more pleased with their performance.

Below is a listing of students who advanced to the state competition.

Group Documentary:

DJ Bobbs and Maya Karri, A Fairy Tale to Remember

Amer Mohiuddin and Nyle Numaan, Radium Dial Painters

Individual Documentary:

Megan Dogra, Birth of a Dream

Emma Smith, Rockefeller’s Hookworm Commission

Group Performance:

Will Koch, Cole Stephany, Alex Ventress, and Jaciana Witte-Rivera, Shout!

Individual Performance:

Lizzie Keuler, General Billy Mitchell

Group Website:

Michael Balistreri, Logan Lee, and Nate Sampson, The Texas Western Basketball Team

Individual Website:

Liz Ostermeyer, Never the Same-The Media After Watergate

Kai Veitinger, Gatorade

Individual Exhibit:

Ellie Barney, Gold Fever

Genevieve Fellenz, Youthquake Obsession

Individual Paper:

Anshul Bhatnagar, We Took the Highways…

Katie Feuerstein, An Empire Executed

Best of luck at state in May!

Looking Forward, Looking Back

Serving as the head of this outstanding School means my schedule often provides some sharp contrasts—often during the same day.

Take Tuesday, February 12, for example. The morning started with a Strategic Planning Steering Committee meeting. Our consultant, Ian Symmonds of Ian Symmonds & Associates, was back on campus for the fourth time.

We officially have moved on to the Phase IV "Formulating the Future" phase, and we are now forming subgroups to begin developing a set of strategic goals based on the research we have gathered over the past several months. It's a very exciting stage in the process as we look towards creating a plan that will ensure the continued success of USM. I'm confident this process will set the stage for a bright future. More information will follow shortly from Sangeeta Khanna and Andrew Petzold, the co-chairs of the Steering Committee.

Following the meeting, I made my way to Lower School, where our fourth-graders were culminating their study of the Civil War by engaging in an “Immersion Day.” Impeccably dressed in the style of the era, our students learned bugle calls, sang Civil War songs, listened to historically authentic speakers, and tasted traditional “Johnny cakes.” I joined them in the taste test—they were actually quite good!

Starting off my day by working with a group of volunteers and administrators dedicated to USM’s continued success, followed by sharing an innovative learning experience as our students’ studied this extraordinary time in our country’s history, made this day a particularly rewarding combination of both looking back in time and to the future.