Once again, Black River H.S. student Natasha Fortin is competing in the National History Day documentary competition. National History Day is taking place this week, just outside of Washington, D.C. at the University of Maryland. Pictured here is Natasha with DVD copies of her documentary, just before leaving for the 10-hour road trip. She gained this honor after finishing in first place at the Vermont History Day competition in April. This year, Natasha's project is a short documentary on Nichelle Nichols' ground-breaking role in Star Trek. The production, including the scripting, voice-over narration, and editing, was all done at Okemo Valley TV. Natasha (and formerly, her sister Aiyana, a 2017 Black River graduate), has been producing documentaries for History Day with us for many years. Black River High School has a long history of participation in and success with the VT and National History Day programs. And we have a special relationship with Black River & History Day. Here's a little of our own history for you: we were originally founded in 2001 after long-time B.R. history teacher, Sue Pollender, was looking for a venue in the local community equipped to help students with the video documentary portion of History Day. She learned that Ludlow could have its own community access TV station, and voila! Every year since, we have worked with Black River students on their History Day documentaries. But that's a story for another time...
For now, this about Natasha and Black River. We wish them well at this year's History Day. Congratulations is also in order to Black River history teacher Ms. Suzette Cyr for continuing on and developing such success among her students. You can read more about Black River students' History Day activities this year here. You can watch Natasha's 1st place “Frontier of Change: Nichelle Nichols’ Conflict and Compromise Regarding her Role in Star Trek" here.