POLAND — Bruce M. Whittier Middle School students participated in the sixth annual Whittier History Day on Feb. 10. Students showcased their research and new learning in a variety of formats.

The project is intended to challenge students to use high-level thinking and to reach excellence in their research. This year’s National History Day theme is “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.”

Students at Whittier conducted rigorous research on a topic of their choice that fit the theme. Students developed a claim, identified primary and secondary materials that supported that claim, catalogued their research and wrote multiple drafts of their research findings.

Students were then required to create a high quality product to illustrate their research. The project could be a website, paper, exhibit, keynote, performance or documentary.

The students spoke in front of judges at a school-wide event, which included every student, and over 40 community volunteers, to defend their thesis statements and their projects. Students with the top projects, as selected by the judges, will qualify for Maine History Day in March.

In the last two years, 12 Whittier students have been selected from the state competition to participate in National History Day in Washington, D.C.

Teachers MaryEllen Johnson, Jamie Karaffa, Sheryl Walters, Jennifer Baker, Kim Caron, Erin Kennedy and Shannon Shanning provided leadership for this year’s project and History Day.