This past Friday marked the 7th year I have been involved in my most favorite community service event: History Day. Before you get all judgemental and start screaming 'NERD!' or my brothers' favorite slam, 'BOOKWORM!' I'll fill you in on a little bit of background info.

Schools across the country participate in the National History Fair competition, it's pretty much like a science fair, but cooler- yes, it's possible. Entrants can enter a project in one of four mediums: an exhibit board, a documentary, a play or an essay. My former high school history teacher, Mr. Kay, made it mandatory to complete a History Fair project in 9th and 10th grade. My parter and I won third place for our documentary of Woodstock my first year, and I was hooked. The following year our next documentary, 'Fact to Fiction: Saint Nicholas to Santa' won and was our ticket to the state competition in Tallahasse. Let me tell you, nothing is more frightening than a panel of judges looking for your every error...sometimes, I have nightmares. I got bored of documentaries and with a group of friends submitted an exhibit board on DNA and its use in forensics [first place, mind you, and best of show]. Our senior year was no different, board with exhibits, we put together a 1o minute musical on the works of Oscar Romero, beacon of light to the Salvadoran people. Again, first place ribbon and best of show- which I wear around the house here and there. I'll be honest, even though we made finals at state, we never got to nationals. This haunts me. Not really.

After I graduated, Mr. Kay has asked me to return every year and be a judge. Oh how the tables have turned! It is now I doing the judging. I'm a fair, but firm judge. This was my third year being a judge and every year I am amazed at the amout of work and effort these kids put into their projects. The beauty of history day is that you pick your own topic, through independent study you become an expert and your passion shows in your project. I love history, and I love History Day. If your area has a History Day Fair, I encourage you to participate. Science and math kids have all the best scholarships and prizes, as a history freak, this means a lot to me.

Posted by PayPerPost at 01:43 PM in Religion | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

I am finally back in town and catching up with everything today. Apparently the word is getting out about PPP, we have seen an almost 3x increase in the volume of posts in the last week while I was gone. You guys have swamped the review team once again! We have some new hires coming on board next week and I am going to work with the team on approvals over the weekend. Please bare with us as we ramp up to meet the demand. Everyone will get paid based on submission date.

This growth has nothing short of phenomenal and continues to amaze me. Keep up the good work guys!

Posted by PayPerPost at 03:46 PM in Religion | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)