HOUGHTON - For 11th-grade Jeffers High School students Brittany Puska and Hannah Rundman, taking part in National History Day helped them learn something about local history they knew relatively little about.
Puska and Rundman and their exhibit outlining the establishment of gaming at Keweenaw Bay Indian Community by tribe member Fred Dakota were chosen to move on to the state competition in Dearborn in May.
Rundman said using Dakota as the source for their project was actually the idea of other people.
"My dad and neighbor, Ralph Raffaelli, suggested we do Fred Dakota," she said.
Raffaelli is a former Houghton chief of police and a local historian.
Puska said she and Rundman didn't have much information about Dakota before he was suggested to them.
"We heard a little, but not a lot," she said.
The development of gaming was important for KBIC, and much of it was due to Dakota, which is why he was chosen for their project, Puska said.
"He deserves more recognition," she said.
Rundman and Puska took part in the Michigan District 1 History Day Saturday in the Memorial Union Building at Michigan Technological University.
Jane Nordberg, Michigan District 1 coordinator for National History Day, said the local competitions are under the auspices of the Historical Society of Michigan for the National History Day organization.
Nordberg said there are three divisions for grades four through 12 in the competition: Youth is for fourth and fifth grade students, Junior is grades six through eight and Senior is for grades nine to 12.
Nordberg said District 1 for Michigan includes 12 of the Upper Peninsula's 15 counties. Although most students compete through their schools, it isn't required.
"They can do it through their parent," she said.
Students taking part in History Day had to register their project during the first week of March, Nordberg said. They had a broad choice of media to use, including documentation, performance, exhibit, Web site and research paper. The latter two had to be submitted earlier than the others for review because they require more time to examine.
For the Saturday competition, Nordberg said 87 students entered, which is about double the number entered last year. This was also the first year Chassell Township Schools took part.
Each year the National History Day has a theme, Nordberg said, and this year the theme is "Innovation in History: Impact and Change."
Nordberg said judges from each local competition choose three entries from each category to send on to the state competition, which this year will be in April at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Those who advance will go to the national competition in June at the University of Maryland.
Besides giving participants a chance to work on a project, Nordberg said National History Day competition has another, hopefully more long-lasting, purpose.
"The competition is to focus on the use of primary sources, and to get the kids thinking critically about history," she said.
Fred Dakota, who was at the competition at Tech, said he was a little surprised when Rundman and Puska contacted him, but was pleased to participate.
"I said, 'I'm always willing to talk about this,'" he said.
Dakota said he spent several hours talking to the girls about the development of gaming at KBIC, both on the telephone and in person, and he's pleased with the results.
"I think they did good," he said. "It's really a story that's not told."
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie @mininggazette.com.
