They don't wear uniforms or dribble a ball, but National History Day participants from Centerville Middle School (CMS) are the embodiment of what it means to make a successful team.

Two CMS teams finished in the top three in their category at the local level to advance to the state competition, which will be held Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, at the University of Scranton.

"They come together to create something that individually they might not have been able to," CMS gifted support teacher Dan Snyderman said.

The region competition was held at Messiah University on March 1. "The easiest way to explain it is it's a science fair, except it's social studies," Snyderman said. This year's theme is "Rights and Responsibilities." Students choose their project from the categories of documentary, exhibit, paper, website, or performance and have a lot of leeway, provided their project fits the theme.

Eighth-graders Hannah Burk, Quinn Schonour, Ella Pfursich, and Diona Trinaku teamed to place second with their documentary, "Female Revolutionaries: How Women's Rights and Responsibilities Changed Throughout the American Revolution."

"Most people don't compete for the school outside of sports," Ella said. "This specific competition gave us a field to study we probably wouldn't have been able to study otherwise, and it was interesting."

Giuliana Houseman and Blake Neff, who are also eighth-graders, combined to finish third with their documentary, "Behind the Spotlight: The Untold Stories of Civil Rights Activists Who Fought With Little Remembrance."

"I think it was a really great experience," Giuliana said. "I definitely learned a lot more about history. It was fun getting to compete and watch other people's documentaries to see how they interpreted the theme."

Diona and Quinn agreed that the competition aspect was beneficial. "I think it is better learning in a more competitive environment," Diona said. "It gives you a different perspective toward history. Instead of learning parts of a specific category, you're learning the main part of one topic. You have a better understanding (because) it's something you decided to learn about instead of something the teacher wants you to learn about."

Quinn added, "We had more motivation to be in-depth with our research and really understand our topic. We were interviewed for the competition, so we really had to know our information. It definitely enabled us to learn more."

Students were given the option of competing either individually or as part of a group. The CMS pupils are happy they teamed with their classmates. "I enjoy learning in a group because it gives us different views and something you might not have thought of before," Hannah said.

Diona said, "Working in a group takes off a lot of pressure because if I was doing this competition by myself, I know that I would feel lots more pressure. This way, you have people helping you, and it's easier."

"It's a great opportunity to learn more about something in history," Giuliana said. "It's a great time to build groups and combine knowledge and abilities you have and create something great."

It is also a chance to learn new things.

"The process of creating and curating this project had us utilizing different skills. I had never cited things before, which I know is a big part of high school and college," Ella said. "It gave us practice in doing that."

Quinn is the editor of her team's documentary. "I had never done something like this before. It was nice to learn how to do something new."

Snyderman said the independent, student-driven nature of the competition encourages students to buy in to their projects. "There are not a lot of opportunities for the kids to compete in things that are not sports-related," he said. "What's great about the competition is it's academic-based, but also that they can choose their topic."

The students aren't the only ones who enjoy the experience. Snyderman and CMS advanced American history teachers Andrew Macik and Laurel Hill are proud of their students.

"Teachers get really excited about it," Snyderman said. "It's fun for us to see the kids compete. It's fun for us to see them really excited about it. It's fun for us to be able to showcase the talents we have here at CMS at the state level."

Giuliana said she enjoyed making the trip to the region competition with her friends and literally getting a taste of a college environment at the dining hall's ice cream bar.

"This was fun," Hannah said. "These are all my friends. We created our own groups, and it was so enjoyable. Sometimes, work is hard, but it's better working with all these guys who are amazing."

The national competition will be held Sunday, June 8, to Thursday, June 12 at the University of Maryland in College Park.

"It would be amazing to make it to nationals," Blake said. "Even if we don't, it's an honor to be able to say, 'I worked so hard on a five- to six-month project.' Even if we hadn't made it to states, (it would be nice) to say, 'I took on that challenge.' It is a really cool thing."