On Wednesday, February 26, 119 freshmen gathered in the gym at 6 p.m. with their laptops, tri-folds, and props, preparing for the two hours they’d painstakingly worked for during the past three months — NHD Night.

National History Day (NHD) is an annual history contest and has been a tradition for Sage freshmen since 2008. Students are to choose a historical topic that they are interested in and ties back to the theme of the year, which is given as a general guideline for the topics.

This year, the theme was “Breaking Barriers in History.” After performing extensive research on the topic, students will compile their analysis and viewpoints into a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website.

“Through NHD, We’re hoping that students can learn to take a stance and back up their opinions,” said Stephen Schumacher, the chair of the History & Social Studies department at Sage.

NHD Night is an opportunity for the students to publicly display their work to families and friends. The event opens with a brief introduction by the faculty, and then attendees can tour the gym and listen to students talk about their projects. Some also headed to the Caillouette Family Community Building to watch documentaries or ascended to the upper gym lobby to see live productions of projects in the performance category.

At the end of the night, awards were given out by the history department to recognize the best projects in each category. Award recipients are also presented with a gift — a book entitled “The Woman Who Would Be King.”