WHEREAS, National History Day began in 1974 and was hailed as a revolutionary way to teach history, and it quickly expanded into the nation's largest and most respected history education program with more than 700,000 students participating annually; and
     WHEREAS, Washington History Day began in 1982 and since then has been an important component of history education statewide; and
     WHEREAS, More than 3,500 students encouraged and guided by more than 125 teachers participate in the Washington History Day program; and
     WHEREAS, For more than 25 years, National History Day students have gone on to careers in communications, business, law, medicine, and countless other disciplines where they put into practice the skills and knowledge learned through the program; and
     WHEREAS, National History Day has developed one of the nation's premier professional development models to teach educators how to improve and reform the way history is taught in America's schools; and
     WHEREAS, National History Day research and products can fulfill required classroom-based assessments in social studies in the state of Washington; and
     WHEREAS, The Presidential Committee on Arts and Humanities report, Creative America, highlighted the National History Day program and named it an "exemplary program"; and
     WHEREAS, National History Day received the Charles Frankel Prize for public programming in humanities from the National Endowment for the Humanities; and
     WHEREAS, National History Day was selected by President George W. Bush and the Archivist of the United States to be a key partner in the national Our Documents initiative in history and civics; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington History Day and National History Day programs will continue to highlight student achievement through a state student contest to be held every May in Washington State and a national student contest to be held every June at the University of Maryland; and
     WHEREAS, The work of the National History Day program has made a significant difference in the lives of millions of children;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate acknowledge the achievements of Washington History Day in 25 years of advancing historical literacy and American citizenship and support the goals and programs of Washington History Day and National History Day; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to David Nicandri, Director of the Washington State Historical Society, Lauren Danner, State Coordinator for Washington History Day, and Randy Schnabel, Chair of the Washington History Day advisory committee.