History Day is a national program which gives students the opportunity to be historians. OWL has been involved in History Day since the late nineties. All students in middle school (grades 6-8) and high school US History students are required to complete a History Day project. Other students are encouraged to complete an independent project and may have a class period dedicated to this work.  

Begining in the late fall, students conduct in-depth research on a topic related to the theme for the year and produce a project, either a paper, documentary, dramatic interpretation, or exhibit. The program fits well with the OWL social studies philosophy of demonstrating what you have learned in a project.  

There are school, regional, state and national competitions where students present their research and projects. OWL History Day takes place in mid-February, where we showcase all the amazing work of our students and select the projects that will represent us at the regional competition in mid-March. The Regional event features projects from all St. Paul Public Schools, with projects selected to move on to State History Day in early May. The top two projects in each category at State qualify for National History Day held in Washington, DC in mid-June.

The last seven years we have had students win at State and make it to the National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland. During that time we have had 6 National Finalists, 4 National Medalists (top 3) and two National Champions.

In 2013, OWL qualified three projects for Nationals (tied for the most projects from one school in Minnesota).  Two projects made it to the National Finals and Grace Kellar-Long's Individual Performance on the Little Rock Nine took third prize.

Here is a link to an MPR story about HISTORY DAY at OWL!

Below are some projects from previous years.