Tips on How to Gain Support for your History Fair Program

(1) If you teach at a High School....

[a] I tell parents that colleges LOVE seeing History Fair listed on applications. I have had numerous students tell me that their colleges responded VERY positively to seeing that they had participated in an extracurricular academic research contest. Many of my students have written about their research in their college applications. Others have talked about their research when they are being interviewed.

[b] I remind parents that I am happy to write letters of recommendation for my students who have excelled at History Fair.

[c] All of our history teachers are more than happy to offer extra credit for students participating in History Fair. Grades are always a great motivator!

[d] Press releases! Parents love seeing their kids' names in the newspapers!

[e] One of our A.P. USA History teachers and I work very closely together. He says that students who do History Fair are greatly helped when they take their A.P. exams. They have a much better sense of analytical thinking and in their writing skills. Parents love to know that!

[f] Prizes and scholarships are GREAT motivators!

(2) If you teach at a Junior High School....

[a] There is absolutely no doubt that students who do History Fair in middle school do better in High School history than do non-participants. Parents love to know that!

[b] Students who participate in History Fair in middle school do better in History Fair in High School. Many of the National Finalists started in Jr. High. Prizes and scholarships are GREAT motivators!

Finally - the BEST motivator - invite parents to your school fair. Or set up exhibits and VCR units at your Open House. Parents are blown away by the quality of the work - and often become great advocates!

Hope this helps!

Barry Bradford
Co-Sponsor of NHD/History Fair
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Lincolnshire, IL


History Fair Teachers: What has been your experience in building support for History Fair in your schools?

Got a Question about any Suggested Topic?

You can always email us at info@chicagohistoryfair.org, but consider writing to us here instead so the responses can be shared with other students.

So Where's the Disasters?

My feeling is that students are going to find disasters on their own, so why encourage it. Even by modelling some positive approaches, it encourages those topics. Moreover, by focussing on disasters as the model of for "tragedies," one is open to a "People-magazine" sensationalism.

Forgive this flippant, simplistic rendition, but if you can't do it in a blog, where can you do it?!

--Chicago fire
Bad fire, lots of buildings destroyed & people died=safety codes and city redesign (urban planning)
--Iroquois Theater
Bad fire, people died=safety codes and theater redesign
--Our Lady of Angels
Bad fire, kids died=safety codes and school redesign
--Eastland
Boat tipped on side because not balanced, people died=codes and boat redesign

See what I mean about "flippant"?! But you can see also that from a competitive angle, the judges are going to be able to take only so much of repetitive projects. Perhaps a student can find an entirely new angle, or gains access to a collection scarcely ever touched by others or operates on the intellectual plain of Carl Smith. More power to them then!

I'll stop here for now, but what do YOU think?