Connecticut Students Win Big at National History Day Contest

College Park, Md. – Ten Connecticut middle and high school students received prestigious awards, Thursday, June 13 at the 2019 National History Day® Contest at the University of Maryland.

• Margo Pedersen from Wilbur Cross High School, New Haven won First Place in the Senior Paper division for her paper Malaga Island: How the State of Maine Devastated a Resilient Island Community in the Name of the Greater Good.
• Ishan Prasad from Staples High School, Westport won Second Place in the Senior Paper division for his paper Shah Bano and India's Postcolonial Predicament: Gender vs. Religion.
• Mia Porcello from Northwest Catholic High School, West Hartford won First Place in the Senior Individual Exhibit division for her project Out of the Closet and into the Medicine Cabinet: ACT UP New York's Healthcare Triumphs.
• Marlena Pegolo from Sedgwick Middle School, West Hartford won Outstanding Entry in World War I History for her project The Tragic and Triumphant "Tail" of Stubby, the Military Dog.
• Eileen Peng from Irving A. Robbins Middle School, Farmington won Outstanding Connecticut Entry: Junior Division for her project The Treason of Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Triumph and Tragedy.
• Katelyn Meyers from Nonnewaug High School, Region 14 won Outstanding Connecticut Entry: Senior Division for her project The Nuremberg Doctors Trials.
• Lindsay Moynihan from Conard High School, West Hartford won a scholarship to the University of Maryland for her project Turning a Tragedy into a Triumph: Dolley Madison, the War of 1818, and the Creation of a National Identity.
• Josh Picoult from Simsbury High School, Simsbury, won the U.S. Constitution Award for his project Where Do We Draw the Line? How the Triumph of District-Based Representative Government Devolved into a Tragic Distortion of American Democratic Ideals. Picoult also placed 9th in the nation for his project.

For winning prizes at the individual senior level, Pedersen and Porcello were also granted scholarships to the 2020 National History Academy, a residential program for high school students with a passion for learning about the foundations of Democracy.

Other Top 10 Finalists from Connecticut include:

• 6th place - Iniya Raja from Timothy Edwards Middle School, South Windsor for The Eugenic Roles: Dead Souls and Birth Control.
• 8th place - Emma Losonczy from Bedford Middle School, Westport for Lucia Wang, Mallika Subramanian, Rhea Choudhury, Sharmila Green, Lise Meitner: A Woman's Determination and Scientific Triumph Through Personal and Societal Tragedy.

In addition to racking up the awards Thursday, on Wednesday, June 12, contest officials extended a special invitation to a Connecticut student to display her project at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Morgan Geisinger, from Vernon Center Middle School, Vernon exhibited her project, Triumph Over Tragedy: Newsies Stop the World, along with 56 other invited students.

“I'm in awe of my students,” said Cyndee McManaman from Vernon Center Middle School. “They bring such diverse topics to life in ways I could never have dreamed of."

A total of 68 students represented Connecticut at the national competition after winning regional and statewide contests earlier this spring. They joined more than 3,000 students from across the United States and overseas for the week-long competition where they met with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, toured Washington, D.C., and engaged with their fellow student historians.

Inspired by the 2019 theme Triumph & Tragedy in History, high school and middle school students wrote papers, created exhibits, produced documentaries, designed websites and staged performances exploring topics ranging from Vincent Van Gogh to Sergeant Stubby to the Radium Girls.

More than 4,000 middle and high school students participated in the 2019 Connecticut History Day (CHD) competition, one of 57 affiliate programs of National History Day. Connecticut History Day is led by The Connecticut Democracy Center, with major support from Connecticut Humanities. Other supporters include the Connecticut League of History Organizations, ConnecticutHistory.org, the Gawlicki Family Foundation, and Connecticut Explored Magazine. CHD is also supported by the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies and the Connecticut State Department of Education. To learn more about Connecticut History Day, visit historydayct.org and follow the program on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.