By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

Making history come alive to her students is of the upmost importance to East St. John High School teacher Tara Cox, and her efforts haven’t gone unrecognized.

The St. John the Baptist Parish School District teacher has been chosen by National History Day, a nationwide program focused on history education, as a 2015-16 Behring Teacher Ambassador.

National History Day is a nonprofit education organization offering programs that engage students in conducting original research on historical topics. The organization also seeks to improve the quality of history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators.

Cox was one of two teachers in Louisiana awarded the Behring Teacher Award for classroom excellence in National History Day’s senior division in 2014, which qualified her to compete for a spot as a 2015-16 Behring Teacher Ambassador.

Cox was recently named one of 24 teachers, and the only one in Louisiana, to earn the ambassador title.

“To be named one of 24 teachers across the United States is a remarkable achievement,” Superintendent Kevin George said. “Mrs. Cox immerses her students in history through an engaging, thought-provoking process that leaves her students begging for more. Her ability to captivate our teenagers is second to none, which is why it is of no surprise that she is being recognized by National History Day.”

An advanced placement, honors and academic United States history teacher at ESJ for the past eight years, Cox is in her third year of integrating the National History Day program in her advanced placement class, which is offered to junior high school students. She is the only teacher in the River Region who implements the program into her class.

Cox said the Ambassador honor will allow her “to integrate Common Core standards for researching into the U.S. History curriculum and to share how the National History Day program could benefit students in the region.”

Cox said the National History Day program allows students to step away from a more traditional type of social studies fair research and presentation model and instead allows students to utilize various talents and strengths to research topics they are interested in and present them in different avenues, all while developing broad research and public speaking skills.

“By participating in the National History Day competition, it allows students to research about something they are interested in and develop a meaningful project based on the research,” Cox said. “It doesn’t limit you to an exhibit and paper. It allows you to perform or film a documentary or create a website to display your knowledge of your subject.”

Cox and her students will attend a regional National History Day competition at The National World War II Museum March 21, and student winners from there will advance to a state competition in April. State competition winners will be invited to attend a national competition in Washington D.C. this summer.

Cox said last year four of her students advanced to the state competition, and she is eager to see how her students this year perform.

Cox has been invited to attend a July training workshop in Washington D.C. to collaborate with coordinators, develop a working plan and implement an action plan to support and expand National History Day activities in her class.

“National History Day lets students see what their interests are,” Cox said.

“It gets them involved in history and allows them to be creative and get involved in something they’re interested in.”