Episode 135: Daybreak Elementary Students Hoping to Make History in State Competition

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is an academic program that has been getting Utah kids excited about history for 30 years. We're talking about the Utah History Fair. On this episode of the Supercast, we find out how some Daybreak Elementary students use their knowledge and talents to take first place and qualify for the State History Fair competition. It is a competition that involves more than 10,000 students from Utah. Proving that the process of learning about history is a whole lot of fun.

We're here with Ramsay O'Connor, one of the sixth grade teachers here at Daybreak Elementary to talk about the Utah State History Fair. And you have a few students who are advancing through regionals to the state competition. Tell me about what made you want to get students involved in this and what that process has been.

Ramsay O'Connor:
So I've been doing history day at Daybreak for, I think this was maybe my third year doing it. So I'm a lot better at it. The first year was kind of trial and error and then with COVID we took two years off. And then this year I wanted to do it again. And since we had that Walk to Read enrichment group time all the sixth grade teachers decided that would be a really good project for some kids that need enriching. So we started with about 30 kids and then I think I had about seven groups compete and two groups made it to the state competition.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, congratulations first of all, that they've advanced. So tell me about the structure of it. There's a theme for each year and then are there certain categories within which they can submit? And what are their options in terms of a project?

Ramsay O'Connor:
So there's a theme every year. We talked a lot about first choosing a topic that's interesting to you. And so we started with finding a moment in history that you find interesting; world history, local history, American history, they could choose whatever they wanted. And then talked about the categories; an exhibit, a documentary, a website, a paper, which nobody chose, and I think that was it. Those were the oh, and a live performance, which no one chose that either. Then yeah, they just go from there. They pick their category. And then we kind of talked about once they narrowed in on the moment in history that they were most interested in, then we talked about narrowing it down to really meet the theme. And we worked a lot on what's a thesis to help develop their project.

Anthony Godfrey:
I love the deep, personalized learning that happens as a result. They get to pick their topic, they get to pick the medium that they're most comfortable with, and then they get to work with someone else. Teamwork is involved and competition doesn't hurt. It sharpens your focus a little bit and you want to do well. On Friday is the state competition and you have two teams that advance to that level?

Ramsay O'Connor:
Yep. This is the first time I've ever had teams make it to the state level competition, so I'm really excited and proud of them. I'm excited for all the kids that participated because they did great. But to have kids go to the state, I'm really excited because I've never done that before or helped kids get to that point.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I wish them the very best and I'll look forward to hearing how things go and thanks again for taking the time.

Ramsay O'Connor:
Of course. Thank you for coming.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm here with students at Daybreak Elementary who have competed in the Utah State History Fair. Now that is not just the history of Utah, but it's a history fair generally and you got to pick your topics within certain categories. So we're gonna talk with each of the three teams that are represented here. So let's start with the two of you. Introduce yourselves and your project for me.

Lyla:
I'm Lyla.

Isla:
And I'm Isla.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about your project.

Lyla:
We did it on the causes of the French Revolution.

Isla:
We thought it'd be a good topic because it's like in a different part of the world, which is fun to explore. And we decided to do the causes because that's a lesser known part of it.

Anthony Godfrey:
And after this project, what is your opinion of guillotines?

Lyla:
Well, the Reign of Terror was like not exactly a fun part in history and guillotines in my opinion are very bad.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes they are. And dangerous. So the tell the people who don't know what the Reign of Terror is, what was the Reign of Terror?

Isla:
It was a time in the French Revolution kind of close to the end where thousands of people died because people were like getting really radical and violent during the French Revolution. Not what they wanted, but it just got really violent and tons of people died, they were beheaded.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. You were saying the nicer term died, but your partner here reminded you that they were actually beheaded. Back to the guillotine issue that I brought up earlier. So talking about history, we are really supposed to learn from history and it's supposed to inform what we do now. So what did you learn from the French Revolution that we might need to think about right now in current society?

Lyla:
Well, it was a lot about like the government and how like everything should be fair. You shouldn't be like ranked on like depending where you were born. Yeah. Like you'd be born into a certain category or a state and depending on that, you would be treated unfairly.

Isla:
When it wasn't even your fault.

Anthony Godfrey:
So in other words, we want to be sure that people no matter where they're born or what the circumstances are around when they're born, that they have as much opportunity as anyone else. Would you agree with that? What was the theme of the history fair that made you want to choose this topic?

Lyla:
The theme was Debate and Diplomacy and the French Revolution goes with that kind of, because it was a big debate. The Estates General, which we focus on a lot, and that's what caused the French Revolution. So we decided to choose that because it matches the theme really well. And it also has some diplomacy in it at the end when they make peace and form a new government.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now you chose to do a website. There are lots of different things that you can do to demonstrate your knowledge of this part of history. Why did you choose a website?

Isla:
Well, we thought it would be a fun, new thing to explore. Like in grades in the past we'd often do like boards and it would be fun to try something new. So we decided on a website. We thought it'd be easy enough, but still fun. But actually it was very difficult, but in the end, we figured it out.

Anthony Godfrey:
So do you want to continue to study more and more history? Did this spark your interest and do you want to become a webmaster now?

Lyla:
This has made me more interested in history. I like learning about what happened earlier and how we can learn from our mistakes, but I don’t think I wanna be a webmaster.

Isla:
Yes, I agree there.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Maybe a queen, but not a webmaster. Okay. Shall we sing the French National Anthem together? Allons enfant de la patrie Okay. Never mind. All right. Thank you very much. And I'm excited to visit your website. You can share the URL with me a little later and I'll check it out.

Stay with us. When we come back more with the students from Daybreak Elementary.

Break:
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Anthony Godfrey:
Introduce yourselves and tell us about your project.

Ann:
I'm Ann.

Yolanda:
And I’m Yolanda.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what was your project?

Ann:
Our project was about Separate but Equal, Plessy versus Ferguson, and the failure of that. The failure of the whole cause. And because we were following the theme Debate in Diplomacy and we found Plessy versus Ferguson, because we wanted to tie into something that had to do with civil rights.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what did you learn through the process?

Yolanda:
I learned that there was other people, not just like Rosa Parks or like Martin Luther King Jr. I learned that there was other people that also had a part in the civil rights movement and like what was going on during that time. Like how people were being separated because of their color and their race.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about some of the circumstances you learned about that you weren't aware of previously?

Yolanda:
Well, I was never aware that people had to like go to different schools because of their color. I was like not really aware of that. I was only aware of how people couldn’t go to the same restaurant or drink from the same fountain.

Anthony Godfrey:
So as an elementary student right now, is it hard for you to imagine that in the past?

Ann:
Yes and no, because we have dived into the whole segregation part and we've seen like, even for us as black people, we feel like a little portion of what like some of the people endured during that time. And like we believe that if Ruby Bridges, if she could endure all the hatred and like racism she was getting during that time, then a child can, you know, learn about it, if she had to like endure it.

Anthony Godfrey:
So is it inspiring to think that someone your age can have such a positive impact?

Yolanda:
Yeah, it is inspiring because I know I wasn't like born during that time, but get to knowing it through, like right now it's very inspiring.

Ann:
I think it is very inspiring that even though we might be really young and all that, we can help be a big part by learning about the things that happened in our history. So history doesn't repeat. And I think that as young people learning about it, because some older people or some people around the world, they don't take the time to learn about this history. And as young people and learning about the history of black people and segregation and the racism that was in America during that time, it is very inspiring that we can do that.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about your specific project. It was a display board, is that correct? And I used the proper term of course. Right? Exhibit? Oh yes, exhibit. Pardon me. Tell me more about your exhibit.

Yolanda:
Well, the exhibit, it has like a bunch of information and a lot of pictures about like what was going on and then it like goes toward like Plessy and the court case.

Anthony Godfrey:
And as you were putting together the pictures and putting together the exhibit, did that deepen your understanding of the circumstance as you decided, how to place all of that and what to include?

Ann:
Yeah, and I felt like when we did the exhibit, with our story, Plessy versus Ferguson Separate but Equal. Why we did the exhibit exactly is because we wanted to show our pictures. All our pictures had a meaning behind it. And when each picture we put down, we took it in through our brain and just like, oh, this is what happened. Some of the pictures we used were like hateful and we really understood everything that we were putting on there. And how it tied into the debate and diplomacy.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is a project you'll remember.

Yolanda:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
I thought it looked great and it reminded me of kind of a museum display that you might see. So does that interest you at all helping bring history alive for other people?

Yolanda:
It does interest me, but I also have like my mind on like other things.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. What is your mind on?

Yolanda:
Like astronomy and stuff like that?

Anthony Godfrey:
So you're looking well beyond this orb. Well done. Yeah. My son wants to be an astronomer too.

Ann:
I feel like I would, after the history fair, I might wanna do it again. I think that it's really important for us to learn about our American history and all the things that went into place with what happened. Because of Plessy versus Ferguson, Separate but Equal, it was a failure since it was, it was basically a court case where it was justifying racial segregation and it was saying it's okay for races to be separate. We're still being equal, giving them equal rights, but it wasn't like that.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you've made a great point and everyone here has made a great point that we don't automatically learn from history. We have to be deliberate about seeking that out and seeking to understand what happened in the past and what lessons we can learn and what mistakes we need to avoid. Great. Well, thank you. Sounds like an awesome project.

Nora:
I'm Nora

Emma:
And I’m Emma.

Anthony Godfrey:
And tell me about your documentary. What was the topic?

Nora:
The fight for voting rights.

Emma:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. And tell me what you learned about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Nora:
It's a lot more complicated than I think people realize. Everybody talks about the Civil Rights Act because Martin Luther king Jr. Had a lot to do with that. But the Voting Rights Act was really important because it opened the way for people to actually be able to have the rights that the Civil Rights Act gave them. Emma:
Yeah. It gave that population of people of voice essentially, to change things that they thought were unfair. And probably prevented quite a few things that probably would not have been so great if the Voting Rights Act was not passed.

Anthony Godfrey:
So because the Voter Right Act was passed, other great things were able to happen in society and other progress was able to be made.

Nora:
Oh for sure. We would be a very different society today if the Voting Rights Act hadn't been passed. The struggles that happened then are still going on today, but that opened a lot more doors for people of color and just everybody.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me, what are some of the lessons for today that we can learn from your project?

Emma:
Probably just that everybody is important and everybody needs that chance to be able to say what they believe and what they think should happen.

Nora:
And don't be jerks.

Anthony Godfrey:
Don't be jerks. Don't be jerks. What surprised you as you learned about the voting rights act?

Nora:
Probably the Selma to Montgomery March. It was this huge march of a lot of people from this little town called Selma to the capital of Alabama, Montgomery. And it was just, it was kind of scary to realize how rude people were to the marchers and how just how mean they were.

Emma:
Yeah. And it kind of brings a different understanding to it because of the importance that was to those people, because they marched it like three different times and they knew what was gonna happen. And they like still went out there and did it. So it brings of different like appreciation for those people.

Anthony Godfrey:
It seems like this was a very impactful project for you. Do you think this is something you'll never forget?

Nora:
No, probably because I was so scared the day of the competition.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's the terror of competition. Yes. We've all felt that in various ways. But it sounds like it went well.

Nora:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now does this make you want to be aspiring filmmakers? Have you texted Ken Burns? What is your plan?

Nora:
We talked about if we ever did this again, doing a website because the documentary was like, we have to get this whole recording done, this whole recording done and find like million pictures. So we're thinking a website next time.

Emma:
Yeah. But also sorry, just one thing to add. Yeah. Sometimes for me, somebody talking about it has a bigger impact than me reading an article. So if I were to do it on something that is very impactful or important to me, I would do it on, I would do a documentary again, just because of the influence that it has, at least in my mind. It was also super fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. So do you have a greater appreciation for the work it to takes to create a documentary? If you watch a documentary, are you going to appreciate it more now?

Nora:
Oh yeah, definitely!

Anthony Godfrey:
It's inspiring. I need to go like bust out my history books because you guys have taught me a lot today. Thank you very much for taking the time and good luck to those of you who are competing at state this Friday. So congratulations on great work and the deep type of learning that we're looking for every day. So that's fantastic. Great work you guys.

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Supercast. Remember education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.