Analee's GATE and NHD

For the second trimester of GATE (gifted and talented program), Analee got to choose an elective. She picked drama, and was therefore assigned a group to perform with. Her group performed "The Ethics of Pig," a short play based on an O. Henry short story. Ana played the narrator. She had to memorize several lines and speak them in a cute southern accent. Seth and I were able to watch her group perform at the Telford building on Monday, February 24.

Introducing the play.

Reading from her diary.

Several weeks ago, I was conversing with Ana about middle school electives since she will be registering for middle school in a short while. I listed several classes off, and when I reached "National History Day," she asked, "What's that?" I explained that National History Day is a competition for middle and high school kids. They pick a topic that relates to the annual NHD theme, then prepare a project. Ana was already doing an independent study project for GATE, so she asked, "Do you have to take the class to compete?" I assured her you didn't. She then asked, "Could I compete?"

Thus began Ana's NHD project. Her independent study project was about Amelia Earhart. She looked over the possible projects (website, paper, performance, exhibit, documentary) and said she'd like to make a website. So she did. Many hours later (designing the website, writing her process paper, creating an annotated bibliography, finding photos, maps, videos, etc.), her website was finished.

http://66851279.nhd.weebly.com 

I don't know how long the website will be up, so here are some screenshots.

The day of the competition, we went to Rocky Mountain Middle School where she answered some questions for the judges, and they gave her some feedback. We left, then returned to the school later that day to here how she did.

Analee placed third in the Junior Division, individual website, flight B. She (and everyone else) is proud of her work.