Ohio winners at National History Day, 2010

By Mary Bezbatchenko, State Coordinator, National History Day in Ohio

From June 13 - 17, 48 Ohio students with 32 projects competed at National History Day at the University of Maryland in College Park. The week was a culmination of a year's worth of research, discovery, and analysis for these students. This year's theme was "Innovation in History: Impact and Change" and the Ohio projects ranged from a performance on Charles Darwin to an exhibit about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. I am very proud of all the Ohio students. They represented our state well, both in their actions and their scholarship.

Out of the 32 projects, 12 placed in the top 15 in the country in their category:

13th place: Junior website by Nathan Christian from Birchwood School titled “Alan Freed and the Music of America”

13th place: Senior Individual Documentary by Caira Lee from Shaker Heights High School, titled “Bebop Jazz: The Evolution of Culture Through Music”

12th place: Junior Individual Performance by Max Freyberger from Mercy Montessori, titled “Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species”

11th place: Senior Group Documentary by Jacob Miller, Leo Katz, and Isaac Hoffman, from Shaker Heights High School titled” Devastation to Exploration: The Impact of the V2 Rocket”

10th place: Senior Individual Performance by Hannah McCandless, from Shaker Heights High School titled “Incognito: The Revolutionary Reporting by Nellie Bly”

7th place: Junior Group Performance by Clare Pruitt and Zaeem Mustafa, from Birchwood School titled “On the Brink of Collapse: George C. Marshall’s Innovative Plan to Rebuild Europe”

6th place: Junior Individual Documentary by Benjamin Wu, from Birchwood School titled “The Printing Press: A New Chapter in Human Communication”

6th place: Senior Group Exhibit by David Neary, Matt Neary, and David Gabriel, from Shaker Heights High School titled “Medieval to Modern: Peter the Great’s Transformation of Russia”

6th place: Senior Individual Performance by Jonah Weinstein, from Shaker Heights High School titled “The Kingfish’s Cry: Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth” Program”

6th place: Senior Individual Documentary by Elise Eiden from Magnificat, titled “The Transistor: A True Innovation”

2nd place: Junior Individual Exhibit by Harsha Ramesh from Mason Middle School, titled “The Innovation of the Smallpox Vaccine: Impacting and Changing Medicine”

2nd place: Senior Individual Exhibit by Claire Lo from Shaker Heights High School, titled “The Devil’s Rope: Pioneering the West”

The Outstanding State Entry awards are given to one junior and one senior project from each state. Ohio’s winners were:

Junior: Calla Gilson from Pike Delta York Middle School for the Junior Individual Performance titled “A Bitter Aftertaste: Nazi Manipulation Through Propaganda and Public Enlightenment

Senior: Emily Hirsch and Alexandra Wagner from Shaker Heights High School for the Senior Group Performance titled “From Icon to Ire: Barbie and the Feminist Movement

One very special award was given to an Ohio student. Claire Lo, from Shaker Heights, was awarded the full scholarship from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii. Claire created an amazing individual exhibit titled “The Devil’s Rope: Pioneering the West”