Nearly 300 Compete at Humboldt County History Day; 57 Earn Champion Medals

Nearly 300 students from fourth through 12th grade packed Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, submitting 200 projects across exhibits, documentaries and posters, with 57 students earning Champion medals and 81 projects selected to advance to California State History Day. Seventy-five volunteers helped run the competition that unfolded in campus classrooms and the gymnasium.

The Humboldt County Office of Education presented 12 merit scholarships at the event and Coast Central Credit Union awarded 21 needs and merit-based scholarships to assist students attending state History Day. HCOE staff said additional travel scholarships will be awarded after post-county Coaching Sessions, with the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County and Coast Central Credit Union among community partners helping underwrite travel support.

Projects ranged from individual documentaries to classroom exhibits and posters. Past local winners provide context for what can follow from county competition: Zane Middle School students won 15 awards across 10 categories in 2024 and Zane eighth-grader Diego Stengl earned the Humboldt County Historical Society Award and the Clarke Historical Museum Award for his documentary “Dam It: A Turning Point of Destruction.” In another earlier example, eighth-graders Gavin Brooks and Conner Johnson became California State History Day champions and earned a trip to National History Day in Maryland for a 10-minute video about Sun and Stax record labels.

Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes framed the students’ work within the event theme and civic learning goals: “History is rarely a single event. It is a chain of actions and responses; one decision leading to another. What stands out to me about the students’ work is that they didn’t just describe events. They asked deeper questions: What sparked the change? Who resisted? Who benefited? What were the consequences? That level of analysis matters. Because the world our students are growing up in is shaped by the same forces – big ideas, strong reactions, and ongoing efforts to improve systems and institutions.”

Tiffany Bullman, Social Studies Teacher and Humboldt History Day Coordinator, described the program’s pedagogy and skills development: “History Day is an important project and event for our local students and community. History Day allows our students to become experts about a topic that they care about. As they become experts, they partake in historical research by digging through primary resources, interviewing experts or people that experienced their topic and reading numerous secondary sources. Humboldt County History Day allows students to show off their projects and knowledge and gain valuable skills through the interview process.”

Organizers said community partners presented additional awards for special-topic projects during the day, and HCOE credited photographer Jasmine Sarp for event images showing Superintendent Davies-Hughes at a Cal Poly Humboldt podium and students receiving awards in the gymnasium. An Instagram post from the day celebrated the turnout: “So proud of all the students who participated in the Humboldt County History Competition @ Cal Poly Humboldt today.”

The 2026 National History Day theme, “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History,” ties to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and will guide many county projects moving forward. HCOE noted that in 2024 California State History Day drew more than 1,500 students from 25 counties, underscoring the scale of competition that the 81 advancing Humboldt projects may face at the state level.