Researching the past, building skills for the future: CMS students compete at Minnesota History Day Regionals

On a sunny Saturday morning in March, seventh graders Aadya Sindhanuru, Emma Wolberg and Hannah Kruegel stood in the Central Middle School cafeteria sharing their expertise on the Black Sunday Dust Storm. As the Eagles confidently spoke about the 1935 storm — one of the worst during the American Dust Bowl — the rest of the 2026 Metro Junior West History Day Contest was buzzing around them. Dozens of elaborately crafted posterboards towered over the lunchroom as students from across the area presented their work. In nearby classrooms, even more students shared websites, documentaries and performances they’d created, all on the theme “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” The annual regional competition was an opportunity for middle schoolers from more than a dozen schools in the West Metro area to present historical research — and for CMS students in particular to showcase a project they’d worked hard to complete earlier in the year.

“[Students] have never done a project [of this extent] before,” said CMS teacher Eric Hanson, who’s helped coordinate the competition for the last five years. Hanson, who teaches advanced social studies to seventh graders, invites his students each year to share their final project from his class in the regional competition. He has high expectations, requiring Eagles to find at least 10 primary and 35-40 secondary sources for their work. It’s an in-depth, thesis-based research project, and students rise to the occasion. It gets them “thinking like a historian,” Hanson explained. By the time they get to the History Day competition, which takes place a couple of months after the conclusion of the class project, the “value [of the work] comes back to them.” It’s a chance to show off their communication skills, their knowledge and creative thinking when crafting a claim. When Eagles are selected to move onto the State competition — and the crowd goes wild at the awards ceremony — Hanson said, “those are the kids that come back to me and say, ‘Can I do History Day again?’”

When Aadya, Emma and Hannah had finished their judging session, Hanson came over to congratulate them. “They didn’t stump you with any questions, did they?” he said with a sly smile. The group thought judging had gone well, and they were proud of the work they’d put into the project. They’d wanted to focus on an environmental issue, and when they learned about the Black Sunday Dust Storm, they felt there would be enough resources about the event to build a strong presentation. Still, this level of research was new for the group. “There would be days where I would have to go to the seventh ‘O’ in the Google logo [search results] just to find a new resource,” Emma laughed. “We learned how to properly research,” Aadya explained. Learning how to best collaborate offered its own challenges, Aadya said, but, “for the end result to be good, you have to go through some struggles.”

As proud as the group was about their own work, they were also proud of their classmates and the effort they’d put into their projects. Across the cafeteria, Hannah’s sister Leah had just presented her poster on the Radium Girls, a group of women who’d been exposed to radioactive elements in the workplace, an event which ignited change for workers’ rights. Leah liked that the judges asked specific questions, allowing her to demonstrate what she knew about the topic. It was a busy morning, and Eagles felt confident about their work. By the end of the day, nearly 40 CMS seventh graders had presented their projects, and 11 qualified for the State competition in April.

Skills in writing, researching, communicating and collaborating weren’t the only things students gained from the experience. “I’m really proud of making new friends,” said Hannah. “Who knew that working on a project about a dust storm…” Aadya trailed off. She smiled at her new friends. They were another valuable takeaway from History Day.