National History Day in Pennsylvania (NHD in PA), the program that engages over 6,000 Pennsylvania students, teachers, and parents in a year-long program of hands-on historical research and inquiry, will hold the 2012 statewide contest on May 4 and 5 at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, PA. The two-day competition selects the best of the regional winners to advance to nationals and is expected to bring more than 900 students, teachers and parents to the area.

"We are very pleased to partner with Cumberland Valley School District and the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau to bring this competition to the area," says NHD in PA state coordinator Jeff Hawks. Hawks, who is also the Education Director at the Army Heritage Center Foundation, the state sponsor for NHD in PA, has managed the statewide program for two years. "NHD is the most rigorous and prestigious academic competition for history in the nation, and Pennsylvania has always had one of the top programs in the country." Pennsylvania students routinely place at the national contest. In 2011, ninth grader Gabriel Schroeder, from St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, placed first in the paper category in the senior division that included hundreds of students from around the nation.

Former Lockheed-Martin CEO Norm Augustine recently drew attention to the National History Day program in an op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal, noting that National History Day helps students develop 21st century workplace skills: "[A]n education in history can create critical thinkers who can digest, analyze and synthesize information and articulate their findings. These are skills needed across a broad range of subjects and disciplines...[and] a candidate who demonstrates capabilities in critical thinking, creative problem-solving and communication has a far greater chance of being employed today than his or her counterpart without those skills." Mr. Augustine specifically identified NHD as a program with significant benefits for students, and cited a recent study that shows that students who participate in National History Day outperform their peers in standardized testing in all subject areas.

For the past four years NHD in PA held the state contest at Millersville University. While the support the College provided was excellent, a change in the State University system calendar prompted the move. "We were not able to work within the dates that Millersville was available in 2012," says Hawks. "Fortunately, Cumberland Valley School District was able to step up and offer us the use of their outstanding facilities and Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau was willing to work with us to obtain local lodging for the students."

Hawks also notes that by moving to Cumberland Valley High School the students will gain valuable extra time between the state and national contests. "We used to bump right up against the deadline for nationals. The state winners had less than four days to register and the students had virtually no time to revise and improve their entries." This years' contest will be a week earlier, giving students more time to use the feedback the state judges give them to make improvements on their projects.

For more information or to learn how you can participate in the National History Day in Pennsylvania program please contact the Army Heritage Center Foundation by phone at 717-258-1102, by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or on the web at http://pa.nhd.org. The Army Heritage Center Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Carlisle, PA.