History Day picks up steam

More than 160 children have signed up to participate in today's annual History Day celebration.

The celebration of the past is scheduled to take place at the Nevada State Museum with the awards ceremony taking place at 2 p.m. in the Assembly chambers.

History curator Bob Nylen said five prizes will be awarded, including the Russell R. Elliot award which carries $350 in cash.

Named after a University of Nevada, Reno professor of history and native Nevadan, the award is offered by the Nevada Corral of Westerners for the best project in Nevada or Western history.

Other sponsors of History Day include the Grace Dangberg Foundation and the Nevada Mining Association.

The children are split into two groups, one for high school students and the other for middle school students. Last year, there were 101 participants.

"We have four different categories, historic papers, performances documentaries and exhibits," Nylen said. "For each category but the papers, three or four students get together and do a group project."

History Day is a Nevada Humanities Committee event and the winners at the state level may go on to the national level in Maryland in June.

"This is an exciting event," Nylen said. "We're pleased that we seem to be growing. We had a teachers' workshop back in November. We're getting the teachers to use us in their work.

Nylen said the public is invited to join in the fun.

"The kids work really hard to pull this all together and this is a chance to enjoy what they've done."

Reno-Gazette Journal reporter Frank Mullen will present his Chautauqua of Albert Einstein.