Coupeville students don’t have a failure to communicate — not after spending the past several months studying communication in history.

That’s the topic of this year’s projects being entered into the state History Day competition.

Students have developed projects ranging from a biography of Helen Keller to a performance and presentation on the cultural significance of Vaudeville.

Seven students are heading to the state competition held at Green River Community College at the end of the month.

Four of the competitors were on hand Saturday morning during a Sons of Norway meeting to show off and fine tune their projects. Students competing in History Day either had to write a paper, perform or produce an exhibit with the theme “Communication in History.”

Micah Johnson researched and eventually wrote a paper about the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. He focused on three areas — the student movement, draft resisters and the veterans’ role in the anti-war movement. He found primary documents and interviewed subjects who had first-hand experience with the movement.

Fellow student Shannon Haskins focused on Navajo code talkers and their efforts in World War II. In addition to their exploits in World War II, she also touched upon the events after the war.

She is trying to track down a code talker to interview. However, since there are only five remaining as of 2001, that could prove a difficult task.

“I’m trying my hardest to get an interview,” Haskins said during the meeting. She said that the code talkers’ accomplishments went largely unknown until the 1970s when the code was declassified.

Jessica Sele performed a vaudeville act. Between skits, she described the cultural significance of vaudeville that was popular in the early 20th century. She emphasized that vaudeville crossed ethnic boundaries and was an art form everybody could enjoy and even participate in.

“It gave everybody an opportunity to make it to the big time regardless of race,” Sele said.

Through her research, she discovered numerous offbeat vaudeville acts, among them a man who controlled his flatulence in a musical way and another who would eat bananas under water. She also interviewed performers and a man who produced a documentary about vaudeville.

While Sele danced and sang her way through her old-school performance two others used modern equipment in producing their projects.

Both Alex Platt and Megan Smith created video documentaries and presented them via computer.

Platt focused on the history of the silent movie. She mentioned that the medium was especially popular among immigrant groups because they didn’t have to understand English to follow action. Silent movies provided immigrants with insight into American culture and showed them how to adjust to their new home.

Smith produced a documentary about the life of Helen Keller who, at an early age, lost her sight and hearing.

In addition to Johnson, Haskins, Sele, Platt and Smith, Maria Kidder, Drew Koleada and Kathryn Bishop participated in the History Day competition.

Coupeville Middle and High School has a long tradition of earning top awards at History Day competitions. The school has been state champion and national winner 13 times since the early 1980s.

As the students fine tuned their state projects in front of Saturday’s audience, they also received a financial boost. The Sons of Norway gave the team a $1,000 check. That money will help pay for expenses to the state competition.