(Ken Rabe and Grace Rabe Nilsen Eastland Disaster Scholarship Award.)

The Chicago Metro History Education Center sponsors the annual History Fair, an academic competition for middle school and senior high school students.  The History Fair serves 17,000 students and 350 teachers in 200 area schools who participate in the school, regional, state, and national history contests.  The 2004 finals for exhibits, media, and performance projects will be held at the Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago on Wednesday, April 7.

The Eastland Disaster Historical Society fully supports the History Fair.  Dozens of students each winter and spring contact the society for assistance with their Eastland Disaster research and projects.   We also sponsor a scholarship - the Ken Rabe and Grace Rabe Nilsen Eastland Disaster Scholarship Award (named in honor of two survivors of the Eastland Disaster).

(The History Fair program is designed to promote the study of history and to encourage the development of reading, writing, research, communication, and critical thinking.  Students are asked to select a topic related to Chicago history, then spend one to three months working individually or in groups creating research projects in local, family, and community history.  Students are encouraged to use primary sources - voices from the past - as evidence in their projects and to extend the walls of the classroom into the community to find sources for their research.  Students present their impressive work in the form of research papers, exhibits, live performances, and media documentaries at competitions held throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.)

Please direct questions and comments to the Eastland Disaster Historical Society at info@eastlanddisaster.org.

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