Middle and high school students from across East Tennessee showcase their research skills at a National History Day competition on the UT campus.
Historical research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, looks a bit different one day each year, as middle and high school students present their scholarship from investigating primary and secondary sources.
For a quarter of a century, UT’s Department of History has supported the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS) with the regional competition for National History Day, providing judges and most years the location for the event.
“This co-sponsorship has been critical from day one with the history department and then with the College of Arts and Sciences allowing this to happen year after year,” said Lisa Oakley, ETHS vice president and curator of education, who has organized the event since it started. “What other program do we have to really be able to shine a light on some of our social science progenies?”
From school- and local-level competitions, 159 students with 82 projects advanced to the East Tennessee History Day competition at UT in February 2026. Teachers brought them from Sevier County High School, Clayton Bradley Academy in Blount County, and Knoxville’s L&M STEM Academy, West High School, and Cedar Bluff Middle School.
“It’s a really important tradition here at UT,” said Associate Professor Denise Phillips, associate head of the UT Department of History, who has served as a judge for more than a decade at the event.
Real Hands-On Research
Students begin by choosing a topic that relates to the annual theme of National History Day, which in 2026 is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” They learn how to vet sources and develop their own insights based on what the evidence shows.
“It gives middle school and high school students a chance to really get a taste of doing original historical research and to work on a project for an extended period,” Phillips said. “It’s quite high-level work. They’re doing a little miniature version of what we educate our history majors to do by their senior year.”
To present their findings, the students may prepare a paper, exhibit, documentary, website, or performance. In addition to UT faculty and students, retired teachers, history enthusiasts, and public historians serve on the judging panels. The judges review the submissions before the competition day, to check sources and bibliographies, and prepare questions for the students.
Responding to the judges gives students practice walking into a room and being confident in talking about material they have mastered, as they might do in a job interview, Phillips notes.
Students continue developing their projects at every level of the competition. The first- and second-place winners in each category at the regional level advance to the Tennessee History Day competition, sponsored by the Tennessee Historical Society.
“Having that critical experience of getting input from faculty and graduate students from the university at that regional level is really, really valuable,” Oakley said. “We usually have a huge representation of students, proportionately, coming out of East Tennessee advancing on to the national competition.”
Students Become Historians
Freshman UT history major Max Wright remembers the feedback he received as a sophomore in high school during East Tennessee History Day, for a paper on Captain Cook. “The judges helped me really be able to write a well-balanced history paper that’s able to consider the many biases in historical documents,” he said.
The following year Wright’s performance on German chemist Fritz Haber earned him a spot at the state competition. “It really helped me become a more confident person in public speaking and helped me learn how to perform better for audiences,” he said.
A member of the Army ROTC program with a minor in education, Wright plans to become an Army historian and then teach history at the high school or university level.
As a high school student, Keeley Wade (’25) twice advanced from the regional competition at UT to the state competition, with papers on the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Highlander Folk School. She returned again this year as a judge. “The study of history often has a reputation for being a solitary endeavor, but events like this allow the whole historical community of Knoxville to come together,” she said.
“I’ve loved history my whole life, but participating in National History Day encouraged me to see history as something that exists outside of the classroom,” Wade said. “The event gave me the chance to have many of the foundational experiences necessary to becoming a career historian. Because of it, I learned how to use the Chicago style, handled archival materials, and used microfilm all for the first time, thanks to the McClung Historical Collection downtown.”
At UT, she earned a BA in legal and social history as a member of the College Scholars program, building on a traditional history degree with coursework from a wide variety of disciplines, including philosophy and political science. She also was a member of the history department’s honors program, and wrote her thesis on the anti-suffrage movement in Tennessee.
Next year she’ll begin a graduate program that will allow her to earn both a law degree and a doctorate in history, and she plans to become a professor and historian, researching how the law shapes the identities of citizens, and how identities of citizens shape the law.
Training History Teachers
Since the pandemic, which forced the event online for three years, participation in National History Day is down because of a number of factors, including transitions in schools and teachers.
Efforts are underway to involve more young students in historical literacy, critical thinking, and digital literacy through National History Day, including a grant-funded Rural and Urban Outreach Program that will provide professional development workshops for teachers in northeast Tennessee counties.
The Institute of American Civics (IAC), housed in UT’s Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, is working with the state coordinator of Tennessee History Day, Nikki Ward, to develop and share a webinar professional development series for teachers across the state.
The institute is also a sponsor of the Tennessee History Day contest, and Managing Director Frankie Weaver, IAC faculty, and several graduate students have served as judges at the school, regional, and state levels.
“As a historian, I love that in my role with the Institute of American Civics and through our K-12 engagement, we are able to support educators and Tennessee’s youth through this impactful collaboration exploring topics in history and civic knowledge,” Weaver said.
by Amy Beth Miller