The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) announced students have been selected to advance to the National History Day in Indiana (NHDI) State Contest after a successful Northeast region contest at Ivy Tech Coliseum Campus in Fort Wayne on Saturday.
The contest included students from Allen, DeKalb, Kosciusko, Noble and Whitley counties.
Local Northeast region contest finalists, including student names, division, school name, project categories and project names include:
• Grace Ganser, junior division, individual website, Lakeview Middle School, “The Clinton 12: Breaking the Barriers of School Segregation.”
• Aaron Pena and Jackson Winey, junior division, group website, Edgewood Middle School, Gatling Gun.
• McKale Hagg and Lucas Patterson, junior division, group website, Edgewood, “Elizabeth Blackwell ‘Breaking Barriers.’”
• CJ Northrop, Doondeeshwar Patnala, Elijah Zaugg, junior division, group website, Lakeview, “The Manhattan Project: Breaking the Barriers of Destruction.”
• Lia Brandt and Chloe Laird, senior division, group website, Warsaw Community High School, “Rosalind Franklin: Breaking Barriers in Biology.”
• Finn Bailey, Caleb Deuel, Robinson Hoffert, Wyatt Stapleton, junior division, group documentary, Edgewood, “Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers Through Baseball.”
• Raquel Brouwer, junior division, individual performance, Lakeview, “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Breaking Barriers Through Law.”
• Jayla Barhydt, Anette Flores, Ajay Mitchell, Violet Ruiz-Lopez, junior division, group performance, Edgewood, “The Salem Witch Trials: Where It All Began.”
• Angie Chavez-Giron, Yandina Escobar, Alondra Flores Saldana, Joel Montoya, Melissa Ochoa, junior division, group performance, Lakeview, “Breaking the Color Barrier, the Story of the Clinton 12.”
• Keller Bailey, Jason Benyousky, Ethan Betances, Ryun Hoffert, senior division, group performance, WCHS, “Wernher Von Braun and Sergei Korolev: Breaking the Barrier of Space.”
• Mia Blocher, junior division, individual exhibit, Edgewood, “Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre.”
• Zoe Rice, junior division, individual exhibit, Edgewood, “Rosie the Riveter.”
• Teagan Alley, junior division, individual exhibit, Edgewood, “Dr. Livingstone I Presume.”
• Katie Ewing, junior division, individual exhibit, Lakeview, “The BAU: Breaking into the Minds of Criminals through Behavioral Analysis.”
• Olivia Castro, junior division, individual exhibit, Lakeview, “Katherine Johnson: Breaking Gender and Racial Barriers.”
• Maya Contreras, junior division, individual exhibit, Lakeview, “The March on Washington: Breaking the Barriers of Racial Injustice.”
• Rachel Doyle, senior division, individual exhibit, WCHS, “Breaking the Barriers of Science Ethics: The Political Debate Behind Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research.”
• Abigail Davis, Leah Henderson, Addison Mehlberg and Josefina Rastrelli, junior division, group exhibit, Lakeview, “Anna Ladd: Breaking Barriers by Giving Life for the Disfigured.”
• Molly Kissling and Olivia Robinson-Gay, junior division, group exhibit, Edgewood, “Wilma Rudolph Breaking Barriers.”
• Emma Bradford and Ariel Strange, junior division, group exhibit, Edgewood, “A. Earhart.”
• Jadyn McLeod and Alyssa Norris, junior division, group exhibit, Lakeview, “James C. Hormel: The Fight Against Orientation Discrimination.”
• Amelia Alexander and Margaret Burkholder, junior division, group exhibit, Lakeview, “Desmond Doss Breaks Barriers as a Conscientious Objector.”
• Celia Mangun, Tess Mangun and Elizabeth Vander Bie, junior division, group exhibit, Lakeview, “The Beatles: Breaking Barriers in the ’60s.”
• Amberlee Busz, junior division, paper, Edgewood, “The Boston Massacre.”
• Bronwyn Harrison, junior division, paper, Edgewood, “Helen Keller: A Woman Who Changed the World Through her own Accomplishments.”
• Rebekah Harrison, senior division, paper, WCHS, “The Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther’s Destruction of the Church’s Illusions and Creation of a New Tradition.”
Approximately 190 students took part in Saturday’s contest, with finalists advancing to the NHDI State Contest April 25 at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center, the Indiana State Government Center Convention Center and the Indiana State Library.
NHDI is a yearlong program dedicated to enhancing history education in Indiana’s schools, according to a provided news release. Students in grades four through 12 explore a historical subject that fits under the annual theme. This year’s theme is “Breaking Barriers in History.” Students use their research to work individually or in a group to create a documentary, exhibit, paper (individual only), performance or website. To reach the state contest, students must qualify at one of nine regional contests around Indiana — with the Northeast contest being the first of 2020.
NHDI is presented by the Rooker Family Foundation with support from the Vigran Family Foundation and TCU Foundation. State Contest support is provided by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. For more information, visit www.indianahistory.org/historyday or call 317-232-1882.
