30th Annual Texas History Day

Advanced Arm Dynamics (AAD), an upper extremity prosthetics provider, recently played a role in the 30^th Annual Texas History Day Contest; albeit, one behind the scenes.  When the business was approached by a group of 8^th graders from a Texas middle school who were creating a play on the history of innovation in prosthetics to perform as their submission for the contest, the AAD team was more than happy to help. They worked with the students over a period of months, which included showing them various prosthesis and how they work, introducing them to patients, providing a tour of the facilities and lab, and even lending them four prosthetic arms to use when performing their play. 

After first winning their school and the Dallas Fort-Worth regional competitions, the students were among the 1,000 students out of 45,000 who were allowed to compete at the state-level this past weekend at the 30^th Annual Texas History Day Contest, the official affiliate of the National History Program, which was held at the Texas State History Museum in Austin. The students received 4^th place out of the 45,000 state competitors.

The theme of this year’s Texas History Day was “Innovation in History.” For their submissions, students in 6^th through 12^th grade had a choice of submitting performances, Web sites, historical papers, documentaries or exhibits in accordance with the theme.

  PHOTO CAPTION (Left to Right): Rebecca Gold, Shelby Johnson, Amy Lytle, Corinne Kowald

 

About Texas History Day

Texas History Day, the official Texas affiliate of the National History Day program, is a yearlong education program that culminates in an annual state-level history fair for students in grades six through twelve. It provides an opportunity for students to develop their knowledge of history and their critical thinking, analytical reading and writing, presentation, media design, and public performance skills through creative and original papers, performances, documentaries, web sites or exhibits.  The Texas State Historical Association coordinates the Texas competition, which involves over 45,000 young Texans statewide. The 2010 event was co-hosted by the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and The University of Texas at Austin College of Education. Over 1,000 students participate in the state level History Day contest with approximately 60 students representing Texas at National History Day each year in Washington, D.C.