Whiz Kids of the Week: Digging Into Our Dark History

This week, we have a team of five Patch Whiz Kids who won a prize with their knowledge of two transformative chapters of our nation's history: the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and racial segregation.

The students, from Heather DiMaggio's fourth grade class at , won gold medals last weekend in a regional National History Day Competition.

The theme of the competition was "debating diplomacy." Students were required to show both sides of a major past policy debate, talk about the consequences of the policy, and its successes and failures.

They had to put together a visual presentation of their chosen issues, a supporting paper, and had to defend their information in interviews with judges. Serious stuff!

Making their win even more impressive, the students were competing against their peers in grades 4 -12, AND they pulled their project together in just a week and a half. 

A big congratulations to the five students and their fearless teacher. They're headed to San José at the end of April to compete in the statewide History Day Competition. 

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week

• Name: William "Scotty" Campbell, Gabriella Peña, Kevin Han, Hannah Ly, Heather Gladwill
• Grade/School: 4th Grade, James Madison
• Accomplishment: Gold Medal Winners in the History Day Competition for Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
• Whiz Kids' Key to Awesomeness: Understanding the importance of our past in the world today.