Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015 - (Page 26)

Making History My Journey to the Inaugural International History Olympiad by Benji Chiu T he summer after fifth grade, I became interested in a History Channel series chronicling the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and other empires. As I watched Empires, I learned how battlefield strategy and engineering breakthroughs helped shape ancient and medieval history. It inspired me to learn more about history, and I began to watch more History Channel shows. In seventh grade, I read about the National History Bee in my school newsletter. The bee is similar to the TV show Jeopardy!, except that the questions are all history related. To qualify for the middle school bee, students take an online, 50-question multiple-choice test from home, on questions covering ancient history to the modern world; those scoring in the top 50 percent qualify for the regional bee. I took the test and, in January, received an email informing me that I had qualified for the regional bee. I prepared for the competition by watching movies, such as Battle of the Bulge, about important historical events and people, and by reading books, including Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. I also continued to learn history at school. Encouraging Results In March, I competed against dozens of other middle school students at the Oregon Regional History Bee, held at a local school in Portland. This one-day buzzer-style competition features three preliminary rounds of 30 questions followed by a championship round for the top 10 students. Questions are structured as short paragraphs, with more difficult clues at the beginning and easier clues toward the end. A student can buzz in at any time while the question is being read, or for up to three seconds afterward. Those scoring in the top 50 percent qualify for the national competition. I was seeded first after the preliminary rounds, and I scored the first three points in the championship round before correctly answering a question about the identity of the "Stolen Children"- Australian Aboriginal children removed from their families by the Australian government and church missions in the first half of the 20th century. With that, I won first place and advanced to the 2014 national competition in May in Atlanta, Georgia. Approximately 500 middle school students competed at the national bee, with the top 125 advancing to the playoffs after five preliminary rounds. From there, only four would advance to the finals, where the first to win eight points would be named national champion. The questions at nationals had the same format as those at regionals. They didn't seem harder to me, but that's probably because I had learned more history as I continued my studying. I came in third, a seventh grader behind two eighth graders. I was encouraged by this result and felt I had a good chance of doing well at nationals the following year. A Winning Strategy In eighth grade, I again won first place in the regional bee. While I had several months to prepare for nationals, this time around I was also studying for the National Science Bowl and the National Science Olympiad-with all three competitions taking place in May! After traveling to Washington, DC, and Lincoln, Nebraska, for the science tournaments, I flew to Louisville, Kentucky, for the 2015 National History Bee. I found the five preliminary rounds easy, and I got off to a good start in the championship round when I correctly answered the first question, about President Cleveland's Supreme Court nominee. Twenty questions into the round, I had seven points; Nov/Dec 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015

Big Picture
In My Own Words Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns
National Treasure Volunteering at the National Archives
Driving My Future, Exploring the Past The many rewards of genealogy
Past in Focus National History Day
People-Powered Movements Studying revolutions at Phillips Academy Andover
Hooked on History From paleontology to conservation science, four graduate students share their research
This is History My summer at Crow Canyon
The Benefits of Majoring in History
Making History My journey to the inaugural International History Olympiad
Historians in Training The Concord Review Summer Program
The Ultimate Game
In My Own Footsteps Putting my choreography in the spotlight
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with archaeologist Inna Moore
One Step Ahead Be your own priority
Planning Ahead for College Choosing the best college for your major
Students Review: University of Washington
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015