By Matthew Young, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE), on Friday, hosted nearly 500 students at the Coliseum in Charleston for the state’s 2023 Social Studies Fair.
According to the WVDE, “Students in grades 3 through 12 from 37 counties have entered projects in categories including anthropology, economics, geography, political science, psychology, sociology, state and local studies, U.S. history and world history. There are more student entries in 2023 than there have been in recent memory.”
In order to qualify for state-level competition, students were required to place first in school, county, and regional events. For all competitions, projects were judged on “oral presentation, theme and research, and display and abstract.”
Among the winning projects in the 2023 competition were “Catacombs of Palermo,” “Cats in Ancient Egypt,” and “Escaping the Trail of Tears: How My Cherokee Ancestors Came to WV.” Click here for a complete listing of all 2023 winners. Student names and placement of winning projects will be available Monday.
“It is rewarding to see the response to this year’s Social Studies Fair with more than 300 entries and 470 students,” State Superintendent of Schools David L. Roach stated in a previous press release. “This level of participation represents the enthusiasm and value students, teachers and families find in the Fair. This is an example of experiential learning that students will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Launched in 1977 through a partnership between the WVDE and Marshall University, 2023 marks the West Virginia Social Studies Fair’s 46th year. For more information, visit the West Virginia Social Studies Fair’s website.
Photos by Matthew Young, RealWV.
