6 COMMUNITY NEWS
Singapore American • September 2015
A Historic Win for SAS By Kyle Aldous
T
wo Singapore American School (SAS) middle school teams had a big June back in the US. They were awarded first and second place honors at the 41st annual National History Day (NHD) Contest at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. No other team at SAS, nor in Southeast Asia, has ever won first prize before, much less both first and second place. Madeleine Zemans, Sophia Datta and Thani Greco were awarded first place in the Junior Group Exhibit category for their project, “Rose Valland: Recovering Stolen Culture in France.” In the same category, second place was awarded to Callie Elms, Mehek Jain, Jada Li and Madeleine Park for their entry, “Adding Pages to Sir Nicholas Winton’s Scrapbook.” SAS social studies teacher and Behring Teacher Ambassador and Understanding Sacrifice Member Matthew Elms described the scene: “It was an incredible moment. They announced the third place winner and it wasn't us. We were getting really nervous. But then, they announced the project on Sir Nicholas Winton for second place and we
were ecstatic! Finally, we had a finalist from our affiliate! I ran down to the stage with the second place winners and accepted the award with them. Just after our girls were presented
their second place medals, Cathy Gorn, the National History Day Director, read out “In first place in the Junior Group Exhibits from Singapore American School...” and that was all I heard. We went crazy down on the arena floor and it was even crazier up in the stands. It's an amazing accomplishment to have first and second place from one affiliate, let alone from the same school.” More than 600,000 students around the world competed in five categories: documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances and websites. SAS is part of the International Schools - South Asia Affiliate; one of 58 affiliates created from the 50 states and countries around the world. SAS students presented seven different projects related to the 2015 NHD theme, Leadership and Legacy in History. “While it is an amazing experience to win or place at a National History Day competition, the benefits of the program go far beyond any medal or prize. Students who complete a project learn how to research, conduct interviews, make historical analysis and work with a group. They learn that having a passion for history and learning can be as rewarding as playing on a soccer team or performing in
a play. Their lives will be forever shaped by the NHD experience because they learn to examine trends, connections and relationships in history. Students gain a sophisticated appreciation for the past and how it influences the future,” said Mr. Elms. The projects presented are the culmination of an entire year of extensive research and preparation. Each year, students are presented a specific theme and then have the freedom to select a project they truly love. “We worked for several months both after school and in class to read, research, interview, draft and, ultimately, build our project. It was quite similar to taking an entire class in a subject we had become extremely passionate about,” said SAS eight grader, Maddy Zemans. “None of us had ever been challenged to think so deeply about a leader or a period in history and Mr. Elms never hesitated to push us even further. I think the whole team experienced great challenges at one point or another: whether it was not being able to find a significant piece of information, to get in contact with an expert or just having a major time conflict. But we were always able to work through each challenge together and acquire information that was even more valuable to our project. We worked very well together as a team and each of us brought different strengths to the table. In Washington, we competed against two teams from every state as well as several international regions. We chose to present our research in an exhibit with a detailed bibliography and process paper. Thani and Sophia are incredibly creative and the final project is an expression of their creativity. I think that made a lot of the difference at nationals among all the diverse and interesting projects. I have grown in my ability to think about history and also how far I push myself in a team and how open I would be to doing a project like National History Day again.”