The Evangeline Parish School District held its 2020 Social Studies Fair on Thursday, February 6, at the Mamou High School Gymnasium. Principal Rico Guillory, Curriculum Coach Rhonda Fontenot, MHS cafeteria staff, custodial staff, and teaching and paraprofessional staff were gracious and amazing hosts for the parish fair.
The purpose of the Social Studies Fair is to provide Evangeline Parish elementary, junior high, and high school students the opportunity to be critical thinking citizens who can effectively explore and communicate to others their knowledge and understanding of the multi-cultural, social, political, and economic forces of our past and present times.
The fair consisted of competitors from 4th through 12th grade students from ten of our parish schools. Each of these schools’ principals, fair coordinators, and teachers worked very hard to prepare and assist students with their research and presentation boards.
Prior to the parish fair, each school held its own social studies fairs in December or January, and students who placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the school-level were eligible to participate at the parish-level.
There are three divisions, Division 1- fourth and fifth grade students, Division 2- sixth through eighth grade students, and Division 3- ninth through 12 grade students. Within each division, there are seven disciplines: anthropology, economics, geography, history, Louisiana history, political science, and sociology. Students choose a topic that is aligned with one of the disciplines, conducted research, created a visual display, and gave a two-minute presentation to judges followed by two minutes of questioning by the judges.
“We have not had an Evangeline Parish Social Studies Fair in several years,” said Anita West, Curriculum and Operations Facilitator for Evangeline Parish School District. “Superintendent (Darwan) Lazard’s vision to move Evangeline Parish to excellence is apparent as he recognized the importance of these types of student-led activities as they align to the State of Louisiana’s curriculum push toward inquiry-based learning and ties in directly with the skills our students need to successfully complete the tasks they encounter on the LEAP 2025 testing in April.”
She continued, “I have had the wonderful opportunity to be the parish coordinator to re-establish the annual social studies and science fairs which will now occur in alternating years. I was delighted to see the minds of our children at work as evidenced by their phenomenal projects. Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the fairs.”
This year’s fair had 103 entries with 52 from Division 1 alone. In the past, fourth and fifth grade students did not participate in the social studies fairs because it was a difficult task to undertake.
This year when explaining the rules and procedures to school-level sponsors and principals, they did not hesitate with the inclusion of 4th and 5th grade students participating in the social studies fairs.
Presently, our students are engaged with curriculums which teach them how to identify and research a topic, to find evidence to support a thought or claim, and to write high quality reasoning statements to effectively communicate their understanding. Our students do this on a daily basis in ELA, math, science, and social studies, and they are successfully using the skills they are learning in all grade levels as evidenced in the projects for this fair. Thank you to our school-level sponsors, teachers, and parents who worked with our students in preparing them for this level of competition.
“I’m extremely proud of all our students who participated in our 2020 District Social Studies Fair,” said Superintendent Darwan Lazard. “Their projects were amazing and reflected each student’s hard work, time and effort. Students were obviously inspired by their dedicated teachers and loving parents/family members. Many thanks to Mrs. Anita West for coordinating this event with excellence. I’m grateful to our supervisors, principals and campus teams for supporting this event!”
The judges for this year’s parish fair included local business owners and directors, community members, the Evangeline Chamber of Commerce, elected and appointed officials, medical and hospital professionals, current and retired educators, retired state employees, an Evangeline Parish library representative, university staff, and the Evangeline Parish 4-H agent. The judges were impressed with the caliber of work our students displayed and the maturity in their verbal presentations. Thank you all for giving your time to judge the projects and displaying a true desire to see our students excel in Evangeline Parish and much appreciation to. Mable Foreman for taking pictures and assisting with acquiring judges.
Students who placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the Evangeline Parish Social Studies Fair are eligible to participate at the Regional Social Studies Fair at ULL in March. Also, after all interviews were completed, judges were asked for their recommendations for the overall best projects for each division and these projects were presented a second time to a different group of judges who then decided on the overall winners for each division. Many of our students (61 entries) will be competing in Lafayette in March. The 2019-2020 Evangeline Parish Social Studies winners and overall winners are listed below by division, discipline and category.
Division 1:
Anthropology:
Individual Category:
1st place: Aztec Temples: What were Aztec Temples?, Alexandra Smith, BHS; (overall winner for division 1)
2nd place: Egyptian Food and Homes, Kylie Gaspard, MES
3rd place: Origins of Mummification, Carson Fontenot, WWS
Group Category: 1st place: What is Life Like for Coushatta Indians? Greta Courville and Allie Willis, WWS;
2nd place: How Long Does It Take an English 4th Grader to Learn Russian? Marie Aucoin and Paris Freeman, JSM
Division 1: Economics:
Individual Category:
1st place: Farm to Table: Where Does Rice Come From? Kynadee Smith, BHS
Division 1: Geography:
Individual Category:
1st place: Formation of the Grand Canyon. Wyatt Guillory, PPHS;
2nd place: Who is Affected by Floods? Alayna Lavergne, BHS;
3rd place: Who are the Romans? Blakelynn Bly, MHS
Group Category:
1st place: Tsunamis and How it Affects the Land. Camryn Charlie and Aubrianna Sittig, CES;
2nd place: What Happens When Yellowstone Blows? Eden Gavin and Zoey Bly, WWS
3rd place: What is the Most Destructive Volcano in US History? Edyn Leblanc and Karlee Abshire, WWS
Division 1: History
Individual Category:
1st place: The History of Dance: How Has Dance Changed Over Time? Cate Courville, BHS
2nd place: How Did Jackie Robinson Change Baseball? Allie Jo Fontenot, WWS
3rd place: How Has Phone Communications Changed the Way We Say Hello? Jonathan Lavergne, BHS
Group Category:
1st place: What is the Orphan Train Movement? Liam Celestine and Justin Arvie, CES
2nd place: September 11, 2001, Owen Shaw and Sebastian Vidrine, MES
3rd place: The History of Basketball, Ty Ardoin and Landon Papillion, CES
Division 1:
Louisiana History
Individual Category:
1st place: How Are Crawfish Farmed in Southwest Louisiana? Adilee Ortego, WWS
2nd place: How Have Louisiana Festivals Affected the State? Jensen Doucet, BHS
3rd place: The Cajun Mardi Gras and the Chicken Chase. Anne Berzas, BHS
Group Category:
1st place: Jean Lafitte--Pirate or Hero? Avery Bacon and Brilee Lapoint, WWS
2nd place: What are the Rituals of Cajun Mardi Gras? Gabe David and Cooper Berzas, WWS
3rd place: Country vs City Mardi Gras. Elliana Johnson and Carly Soileau, JSM
Division 1:
Political Science
Individual Category:
1st place: From Stump to Trump. Elle’ Soileau, WWS
2nd place: We are Marines. Demi Vidrine, WWS
Division 1: Sociology
Individual Category:
1st place: How my Grandparents Childhood Differed from Mine? Carlee Fontenot, JSM
2nd place: How Does Grief Affect Children? Sara Vidrine, WWS
3rd place: How the “I Have a Dream” Speech Still Has Not Been Fully Fulfilled? Kestin Frank, BHS
Group Category:
2nd place: Teens Behind the Wheel. Are They Safe? Erin Louis and Gabby Arvie JSM
Division 2:
Anthropology
Group Category:
1st place: Phenomenal Pharaohs: Why Were the Pharaohs and Queens Buried with their Belongings? Valynn Hyatt and Mallory Manuel, CES
2nd place: Powerful Poseidon. Ashton Bias and Da’Corian Davis,CES
Division 2: Economics
Group Category:
1st place: Louisiana’s Economy. Alexis Acosta and Sierra Freeman,VES
2nd place: How did the Mississippi River Change Trade Economically Throughout the US? Evan Gaspard and Julian Valliene, BHS
Division 2: History
Individual Category
3rd place: History of the Telephone. Julian Griffin, MHS
Group Category:
1st place: The Mystery of Mummies. Riley Soileau and Kaitlyn Ross, CES
2nd place: The History of Chocolate. Kayla Dies and Kaityn Fontenot, MHS (overall winner for division 2)
3rd place: How did the Vietnam War Affect Humanitarian Conflicts? Zachery Thomas and Collin Deville, BCES
Division 2:
Louisiana History
Individual Category:
2nd place: How did the Bolfa Brothers Influence Mardi Gras and Spread the Cajun Culture? Ava St. Ann, BCES
Group Category:
1st place: Mardi Gras. Gracy McGee and Breanna Deville, CES
2nd place: Fighting for Home, The Battle of New Orleans. Hayden Fontenot and Christian Dardar, CES
3rd place: Poverty Point, William Fontenot and MiKayla Rubin, VES
Division 2: Sociology
Group Category:
3rd place: Women on the Rise. Alaina Matte and Madalie Bertrand VES
Division 3:
Anthropology
Individual Category:
1st place: Inside the Mind of Ted Bundy. McKenzie Smith, BHS
Group Category:
2nd place: How are Louisiana Mardi Gras’ Different? Teralyn Fontenot and Ashlyn Foret, MHS
Division 3: Economics
Group Category:
2nd place: Cause and Effect of the Great Depression, Landon Jayce Smith and Alex Menier, BHS
3rd place: How WWII Affected the American Economy? Alexandra Duplechin and Kelsey Marcantel, BHS
Division 3: Geography
Group Category:
1st place: How Highway Systems Altered the United States? Jacey Manuel and Payton Lyons, BHS
2nd place: Agent Orange? Johnathon Downs and John Michael Fontenot, MHS
3rd place: What Makes Louisiana Farming Unique? Hannah Chapman and Madison Manuel, MHS
Division 3: History
Individual Category:
1st place: The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Steven Bertrand, BHS
2nd place: How WWII Affected American Music? Ethan Bergeron, BHS
3rd place: Reasons Napoleon Lost the Battle of Waterloo. Wesley Lejeune, BHS
Group Category:
1st place: What was Life Like in America? A’Shanta Weston and Asharia Leday, MHS
2nd place: How Have Women’s Roles Changed Over Time? Anne-Marie Bieber and Whittney Manuel, MHS
3rd place: What Roller Coaster Ride did MHS Take? Jasmyn Guilbeau and Raegen Anderson, MHS
Division 3:
Louisiana History
Individual Category
1st place: Jamming Cajun Style: Samuel Marcantel, PPHS (overall winner for division 3)
Group Category:
1st place: What Makes Southwest Louisiana Cuisine Unique? Desataya Tezeno and Elson Laurant, MHS
2nd place: What is Cajun Music in Louisiana? Kamryn Dillard and Mayla Aguillard MHS
Division 3:
Political Science
Individual Category
1st place: Legalization of Marijuana: The Benefits? DaJhira John, PPHS
Group Category:
1st place: Are the New Car Seat Laws of Louisiana Rational? Alaina Fontenot and Jessica Richard, MHS
Division 3: Sociology
Individual Category:
1st place: How Does Hollywood Romanticize Historical Events? Paytin Robinson PPHS
Group Category:
1st place: What Sparks Do Infidelity Ignite? Akeria Malveaux and Anijah Skinner, MHS
2nd place: Social Media: Detrimental or Beneficial? Samantha Ashford and Vivian Deshotel, BHS
3rd place: How Has Social Media Impacted Teens Today? Kaili Johnson and Baileigh Deshotel, MHS