Studying local history

Several Orange County fourth-graders will be honored at a reception at The Arts Center in Orange next week as winners of the Orange History Day Contest.
The contest, held for the second consecutive year, was developed by Orange County Public Schools with support from the Orange County Historical Society as a way to promote local history. According to academic gifted coordinator Carol Hunter, the contest encourages students to be interested in local history while also building their research skills. This year, the contest was moved to March to coincide with president James Madison's birthday. She said by moving the contest, students would also be able to reinforce concepts covered on the Standards of Learning tests.
"We thought researching Virginia history would be a good way to prepare for the SOLs," Hunter said.
To jump start student interest in the contest, every fourth-grader is given the coloring book, "The Nine Lives of an Orange Tabby." The book delves into local history and was developed by the historical society with The Arts Center in Orange.
"We use the coloring book as a starting point," she said. "Students can use it to get ideas for things that happened in Orange County."
Possible topics include the Manahoac Indians, Captain John Smith, the Germanna Fort, Zachary Taylor, James Madison, the silk mill and the Civil War in Orange. Students then research their topic thoroughly, creating a poster presentation displaying the information clearly.
The presentations were due Thursday with judging to take place Friday. Entries are judged based on historical quality, presentation clarity and how well guidelines were followed. According to Hunter, the presentations with the highest scores will be placed on display at The Arts Center in Orange with those students being honored during a reception held Monday.
Hunter said besides being featured at the reception, winners of the contest will also receive a Virginia lapel pin and certificate of recognition from the historical society. She expects 200-250 student entries for the contest with approximately the top 10 percent of projects being featured at the reception.
"For some schools, teachers set time aside to work on the project in class," she said. "For others, the project was introduced and interested students could work on it at home."
The reception for the contest will be held Monday, March 15 at 5:30 p.m. at The Arts Center in Orange. The community is invited to attend.