Hockinson students on a roll at regional, statewide competitions

Hockinson School District students are on a roll this season. 

In mid-April, the Hockinson High School band took top honors in two different competitions designed for much larger bands and, just last week, a group of Hockinson Middle School students earned top honors at the state’s National History Day competition.

On April 14, the Hockinson High band won two first-place honors at the University of Portland Jazz Festival. Later that week, the high school band also took home the coveted Outstanding Instrumental Music Program Award — an award given to one band in each division that has the highest combined scores for concert and jazz ensembles — at the Columbia Basin College Band Festival. 

Hockinson High band director Corey McEnry said his band made a name for Hockinson and Brush Prairie at the festivals, which are traditionally attended by much larger high school bands.

“While just about nobody at either of these festivals had any idea where Hockinson High School and Brush Prairie, Washington, were going into these events, they all did by the time they left,” McEnry said. “I’m very proud of the way our students not only performed but also represented our school and community. Numerous judges and even other bands were impressed not just with our ability but also with our professionalism and respect for other band programs.”

While the high school musicians were gearing up for their big wins at the festivals, a group of history-minded Hockinson eighth-graders were prepping for the Washington History Day competition, held Saturday, April 23, at Green River Community College in Auburn, WA..

The Washington State Historical Society competition bills itself as a “fun event that encourages students to become historians by developing research, analysis, presentation and social skills.” To enter the competition, students work with their history teachers and their peers, conducting research on a historical subject of their choice and then using their research to present a dramatic performance, multimedia documentary, museum exhibit, website or research paper. Students who finish in first or second place in their category at the state event move on to the national contest, held in June at the University of Maryland.

Sarah Comber, spokesperson for the Hockinson School District, said Hockinson students “took the National History Day competition by storm,” with four eighth-graders from Hockinson Middle School (HMS) earning awards for their individual projects and one student qualifying for the national contest in June.

“Watching our students share their learning and earn recognition on such a large scale was truly a highlight of my teaching career,” said HMS social studies teacher Jacob Hunter. “The state contest is a whirlwind … the quality of the projects can be intimidating. As a teacher, it inspires you to continue to challenge students to be the best they can be.”

This is the third year that HMS students have participated in the Washington History Day competition and Hunter said it is the first time the school has had a student qualify for the national contest. The HMS students who won awards at the state level include: Morghan Codino and Seanna Miller, who won third place for their exhibit on Ada Lovelace, a trailblazing computer programmer; Kennedy Carter, who won fourth place for her paper “George Washington and the Culper Spy Ring;” and Jasmine Shigeno, who won second place for her exhibit “Sailing to Safety: SS St. Louis.”

Shigeno’s award-winning exhibit, which details the plight of Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi Germany aboard the SS St. Louis, also qualified her to compete at the National History Day event in June.

“I am thrilled to be the first student from HMS to represent our school at the national level,” Shigeno said. “Last year, I competed in a group and our topic was Japanese internment camps. We ended up making it to state, but not placing or qualifying for nationals.”

This year, Shigeno chose a solo project and chose the SS St. Louis refugees because their story parallels the modern plight of Syrian refugees.

“My project is about the Jewish refugees on the SS St. Louis who tried to escape the Nazis in Germany,” Shigeno said. “They were rejected from asylum in Cuba and the U.S. because of the fear they were Nazi agents. They were eventually accepted into Belgium, France, Britain and the Netherlands, but about 265 were caught and killed in concentration camps. My project is a warning of what fear can do to people.”

Shigeno says she spent many hours researching her topic and finding the right visual elements to make her exhibit stand out.

“I built my project out of suitcases to act as my exhibit board but also to represent the journey the refugees traveled,” she said. “I included information about Kristallnacht, a planned attack on Jewish synagogues, homes and businesses, which caused Jewish people in Germany to want to escape. I also included ties to the Syrian refugee crisis.”

Shigeno, 14, lives with her parents, Craig and Kari Shigeno, and 10-year-old sister Jada, in Brush Prairie and, in her free time, enjoys playing club soccer and basketball, doing speed and agility training in preparation for high school sports, and says she is an avid reader who enjoys “tearing through books.”

Shigeno also credits her history teacher, Jacob Hunter, with helping her make it as far as she has in the National History Day competition.

“He is an amazing history teacher,” Shigeno said. “He has supported me and provided valuable feedback to improve my project. He makes learning fun and I am so thankful for all he’s done for me. Hockinson is so lucky to have him as a teacher.”

This is Hunter’s third year teaching at HMS. Having previously taught history courses to sixth, seventh and eighth-graders, Hunter says he has a group of current eighth-graders, including Shigeno, who have been with him throughout their middle school history classes.

“It has been a unique way to start my teaching career, and I just hope I’ve taught these kids half as much as they’ve taught me,” Hunter said.

Encouraging participation in an event like National History Day helps students better understand the work that real historians do on a day-to-day basis, Hunter said.

“We were looking for a way to encourage our students to not just study history, but actually do the work real historian do,” he said. “Being able to choose their project category and topic engages students and is a big part of what makes National History Day a success.”

Hunter said that, while the competition is inspiring and helps students engage with history, that it can be challenging to see students work so hard on their projects and not advance to the next level.

“Knowing the quality of the other projects is part of what makes (Shigeno’s) recognition all the more fulfilling,” Hunter said.

Shigeno will compete at the national competition in mid-June, and she and her history teacher are trying to raise money to help future students cover their National History Day competition expenses. Individuals or businesses that would like to contribute to the National History Day fund for local students, are asked to call the Hockinson Middle School office at (360) 448-6440.

Interested in learning more about the artists and students in the Hockinson School District? The district will host a K-12 “Celebration of the Arts” art show and reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Friday, May 6 at the Hockinson High School, 16819 NE 159th St., Brush Prairie. The art show will be held in the high school’s commons area, and will be followed by a high school drama and band performance of “Guys & Dolls” at 7 p.m. The musical will show at 7 p.m., May 5-7 and May 12-14, as well as at a matinee performance at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 7.