Sophomores wrapped up their Cultural Imperialism unit today by presenting their completed projects during history class.

“We are studying trading between European and Asian countries in the 16th and 17th centuries when Europeans were seeking greater trade with China, Japan and India,” history teacher Michael Stafford said. “The issues we talk about specifically are cultural imperialism and what happens when one culture tends to dominate over another.”

For the last few weeks, sophomores prepared their presentations through thorough research and writing to produce a commercial-style video. Using knowledge from both English and History classes, students strived towards the goal of making convincing and compelling arguments.

“We made a video using persuasive techniques from class to learn about countries that traded with each other,” sophomore Abby Anderson said. “I learned different historical aspects in the trading industry, and what was valued back then.”

According to students, the project not only helped them learn how to convince mock countries to trade, but promoted overall understanding of how to justify any kind of reasoning in an academic context.

”It has helped my writing skills for proving something like my thesis in an essay,” sophomore Bianca Mercado said. “I also learned a lot of different ways to persuade my mom or dad.”

Although the project was quite successful, like all things, there were a few difficulties such as time-management and proper research methods, according to students.

“Scheduling was a little challenging of when we would film, but other than that we worked great together and everyone did their share,” Anderson said.