Eva Seidler '79 successfully competed in the Chicago Metro History regional fair held Apr. 28. Her project advances to compete in the Chicago‑area fair on May 10‑13.

The Chicago Metro History Fair is sponsored by the Illinois Council for the Humanities. Its purpose is to encourage the use of community resources to understand history. Such resources include oral histories, family geneologies, architectural histories, and ethnic group histories.

Eva's project was an ethnic group history. Her research resulted in a paper which concerned the blending into the American mainstream (historians call this blending "assimilation") of the Germans who emigrated to the United States after World War II. Eva has a special interest in her subject since some of your relatives emigrated to the United States from Germany after the war.

Maine West was represented by 10 other projects at the regional fair, which was held at Forest View High School. Mr. Charles Dunn's American history class submitted a project entitled "The Sociological Aspects of Oral History." The project studied the effects of the Great Depression on Americans. Research was conducted through interviews with some who had lived through that era.

All together 50 projects competed at the fair. Students who participated came from high schools in Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Palatine, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, and other northwest suburbs. Maine East successfully competed with a project giving the history of that high school in song and dance.

Mr. Eric Edstrom, chairman of the Social Science Department, said that the fair has been quite successful this year. He expects next year's Second Annual Chicago Metro History Fair to be even bigger, as it continues to encourage the study of heritage and community history.