On Oct. 30, the first after-school National History Day (NHD) training session took place, inviting all SIS high school students to attend. This happened just weeks after SIS became the official host for NHD Korea this year.

“When I first heard that NHD would be held in SIS, I was excited to help our school and believed that the training sessions would help students gain more experience,” Hugo Lee (11), History Honor Society member leading the sessions, said. 

Students wishing to take part in the training sessions meet every Thursday in James Kowalski’s room, where they will go over each week’s agenda for 30 minutes. 

The training sessions are expected to take place until Jan. 27, 2022, when all research projects are due on the official NHD website. Over several months, the training sessions will help students choose topics, conduct research, and create their projects. 

“Through the training sessions, students will develop the adequate skills needed to evaluate sources for credibility,” Hugo said. “The sessions will also help students to get a more detailed, deeper understanding of their topic.”

Students who have participated in the NHD contest in previous years have also begun to take an interest in the training sessions.

“I decided to join the training sessions to better prepare myself for the upcoming contest,” Aaron Kim (10), a participant of the training sessions, said. “I have participated in a few NHD tournaments in the past, and while taking AP US History this year, I wanted to learn more about the contest itself.”

The training sessions are also designed to combine different teaching elements that will give students a more unique learning experience.

“For the first 15 minutes, I use PowerPoint to cover important information for the lesson,” said Hugo. “For the remainder of class, students are able to get direct feedback on possible NHD topics and engage in discussions with others to share ideas. These training sessions will hopefully set students up for success at the competition.”