Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The 2025 History Day Islandwide Competition for all secondary school students, both public and private, kicked started last week, Wednesday, April 9th, at the Department of Youth & Women’s Affairs (DYWA) gymnasium in Tafuna.

Sadly, it may be the last one in the territory as affiliated programs for National History Day (NHD) from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have had their funding cancelled, according to the NHD website: nhd.org

Donations are being solicited on the website for NHD to continue its “important programming for the next two years and beyond”.

The organizers and coordinators for the 2025 History Day competition are the ASDOE Division of Curriculum & Instruction (DCI). It is a part of the US National History Day competition, with the NHD 2025 theme of “Rights and Responsibilities in History”.

The theme invites students to “consider questions of time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact and significance.”

The competition comprised a variety of categories that included group and individual exhibitions, performances, websites, and historical papers. Students chose from local, family, national, and historical subjects from around the world.

The theme encouraged students to research from factual, credible, and reliable sources on “How rights are established, Who has them, and What responsibilities come with those rights.”

Many students who participated in the competition were proud of their family’s local and cultural history.

Dr Julie Ekeroma-Faalogo from the DCI, who is also the lead coordinator for this event explained that the History Day Islandwide Competition was for all students in Juniors and Seniors division, to compete and present their projects related to this year’s theme.

Students with successful projects will have the chance to represent American Samoa in the off-Island national competition.

Kolose Ili who is the Head of Social Studies of Tafuna High School will travel with selected students to represent American Samoa for the off-Iisland national competition.

He will also be the second representative from American Samoa to be featured as a judge for the national competition

For more information about the cancellation of NHD grants you can go to their official website nhd.org and Facebook page.