This year, for the first time, Onalaska High School students participated in National History Day, a nationwide competition that challenges students to create projects on a topic of their choice. Topics can range from pop culture icons to world-wide conflicts to small town miracles as long as it pertains to the chosen theme. This year’s theme was Revolution, Reaction, and Reform. The competition process starts as a school competition, then advances to the regional level.  From there, the top two in each category advance to the state competition. Onalaska High School students qualified for state in five categories. Monica Delgado and Wesley Hallstead competed in “Individual Documentary,” and group documentaries were made by Sam Chilsen and Ben Reimler as well as by Alex Fenton and David Krohn. Tiana Dixon and Alex Jaffery lugged their individual exhibits to state and Aly Mickschl and Kaitlyn Enos competed as a group in the “Exhibit” category. Matt Hibshman and Aubrey Howerton both wrote state-qualifying papers.

Although no one advanced to the National level, between the regional and state competitions, several scholarships and awards were given to Onalaska students. “For a lot of people, it was a great learning experience to compete with other schools in an academic way instead of athletically,” says Mrs. Reimler, the driving force of Onalaska's involvement. Along with encouraging student success, Mrs. Reimler was awarded the “Rookie of the Year” award at the state competition. This award is given to teachers who worked to incorporate National History Day into their schools. When asked if she planned on continuing National History Day in the years to come, she replied, “Yes, Definitely.”