Last-minute rush!

If one were to walk into Suzy Turner’s Nashua-Plainfield high school classroom the night before the National History Day district competition, the words that would come to mind might be “disorganization,” “mayhem” or “upheaval.”Or maybe, just “total chaos.”But here’s the deal: As crazy as the night before districts is, it works.Nashua-Plainfield, quite simply, is a History Day power, and that Wednesday night chaos turned into Thursday glory for Turner’s students as Nashua-Plainfield advanced nine projects to the May 8 sectional.Twenty-three History Day participants have been getting ready for districts since last fall, and she said many of her students put in a couple hundred hours on their projects that were tied to this year’s topic, “Taking a Stand.”The students — either as individuals or in groups — worked on historical papers, individual websites, exhibits and documentaries, and group websites, exhibits and documentaries.The History Day season starts in the fall, when students take a trip to the University of Northern Iowa Library.“They have a lot of books that we don’t have access to,” said Turner. “It helps them with in-depth research.”In January, the state director came to the school and spends some one-on-one time with the students with sources or ideas.The night before district, students were putting the finishing touches to their projects. There was a lot running around, cutting and gluing. And yes, emotions ran high.Morgan Kapping was worried she wouldn’t finish in time. Another student had to run to Hobby Lobby to get items for their project.Isaac Swaney is a freshman, and he decided to do an individual documentary. He felt pretty good about his project the night before.For the complete story see the 3/30/2017 Nashua Reporter.