As he scanned his smart phone for information, Wilbur Purdue found what he was looking for, then pondered how to share it with five eager young ladies sitting around him.

“Do you want to hear the good news or the scary news?” Purdue said.

He started with the good news, sharing that three of his students, seniors McKenzie Rice and Sofia Karlsson and sophomore Taichen Rose, would be facing no opposition in their categories at the regional competition for National History Day, meaning they would automatically qualify for the state level.

The other two students, Anna Dion and Knight Arndt, both from the middle school, didn’t have it so easy. Purdue rattled off the entry numbers — 31 in one category, 13 in the other — each to a chorus of wails.

“Good competition makes you work harder,” Purdue reminded the students.

Purdue, a science teacher at Coupeville Middle School, is well versed in the dedication and attention to detail needed for participants to succeed in the National History Day competition.

He’s been Coupeville’s advisor of the after-school program for 13 years and was even a participant himself as a student when he created a historical exhibit on the defensive systems at Fort Casey, Fort Flagler and Fort Worden that made up the “Triangle of Fire.” Purdue placed third at the state competition.

This school year, Purdue is guiding five students as they prepare to shed more light on history. They will be sharing their projects and seeking public input during a History Day Community Night that is taking place from 5-7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 3 at the Whidbey Island Nordic Lodge on Jacobs Road in Coupeville.

Following this year’s themes of “Exploration, Encounter and Exchange,” the Coupeville student projects are still different, reflecting distinct areas of interest.

Rose and Arndt are working on video documentaries. Rose’s topic is on the history of cargo containerization; Arndt is focusing on George Vancouver’s explorations into the Pacific Northwest.

Rice and Karlsson, both members of the high school drama club, are doing a performance on existentialism, a philosophical movement that emphasizes individual extistence, freedom and choice.

Dion is creating an exhibit about Edward Jenner’s discovery of the inoculation for smallpox.

“I think their topics are unique,” Purdue said. “You get a lot of kids who do space exploration and a lot of things like that. When you get down to the business world and medicine and things like that, you tend not to see too many of those.”

Already, some of the students are viewing the world a little differently through research on their topics.

Rose doesn’t look at container ships passing through Admiralty Inlet quite the same.

“At first, I was like, ‘Hey, there’s a ship. That’s colorful,’ ” Rose said. “But now, I kind of understand a little more like ‘Hey, that’s probably $2 million right there.’ ”

National History Day started in 1974 aimed at reinvigorating the teaching and learning of history in new ways.

It helps students learn and develop critical thinking, writing and research skills.

Some students haven’t just won awards, they’ve literally changed history.

According to the National History Day website, a court martial of a World War II Navy captain was overturned as a result of research done by a National History Day student.

Also, extensive research on the murder case of three Civil Rights workers in 1964 in Mississippi done by three National History Day students from Illinois led to the high profile case being reopened and — 41 years after the murders, in 2005 — another arrest and conviction.

Coupeville’s Heni Barnes took first place at the National History Day national competition in Maryland in 2013 for her documentary on the 1917 Pacific Northwest lumber strike.

This year, the regional competition will take place March 12 at Western Washington University in Bellingham with the top two advancing to state.

Rice is in her third year of participating.

“I got roped into it when I was a 10th grader,” she said. “I thought I hated history. After a year of doing it, I think I changed my mind and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Rice said that she became intrigued by existentialism from one of her English classes and wanted to pursue the movement’s history deeper. Karlsson, a foreign-exchange student from Sweden, joined her and together they began researching and crafting a script for a performance they’ll play out in front of judges.

Even though they are assured of advancing, they still must perform at regionals, where they’ll get feedback.

“They’re going to judge us on basically everything,” Rice said. “I think the biggest thing will be if we’re historically accurate. Then after that, they’re going to judge on how interesting the play was, how we took a historical event and made it worthy of watching.”