Cathy Gorn is the Assistant Director of National Day Cleve land, Ohio. Each year, National Day offers students the opportunity to conduct extensive research on topics related to an annual theme and to present their findings through historical papers, projects, dramatic performances and media presentations. The theme varies from year to year, ranging from Turning Points History to Triumphs and Tragedies His tory to Family and Community History. It was once remarked that the annual theme resembles a cheap advertising or public relations gim mick, and indeed it does seem to mimic Stop and Shop or Pick-n Pay. But there is much more purpose behind the theme than simply to gain the attention of teachers and students. It provides students with a philosophical base by which they might sift and analyze their re search, forcing them to interpret their material and draw conclusions. Although the themes are different each year, there is one thing that they all share com mon--the last two words, in His tory. This phrase is the most important aspect of the theme. Whatever the topic--whether local, national or world history--it must be placed into historical perspec tive, and students must use the historians' craft to analyze their research and interpret their find ings. It is encouraging to note the number of young people who are curious about the world around them and anxious and interested pursu ing topics that have particular rele vancy today's society, often those which can be found on the front page of any newspaper. However, most often, when selecting recent or current events issues for National Day entries, students fail to place such topics into a historical framework. Thus their Day entries take on a sociological design rather than one that is historical, and therefore lose points from Day judges. Although students are cau tioned about choosing recent history or current events issues, such topics are suitable if approached as histo rians would approach them, keeping historical context mind. This raises the question, when do contemporary affairs become history? Historians' answers vary widely, as it is difficult to make a firm judgment. Therefore to say that after ten years or five years or even five days an event becomes history is almost impossible. But it is possible to suggest ways which students might approach recent his tory/current events topics and treat them historically for the Day competition. First one must ask, what is history? In the most simplistic terms, history is what happened