Connecticut Students Win Big at National History Day Contest

CONNECTICUT STUDENTS RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS AT NATIONAL HISTORY DAY® CONTEST

College Park, Md. – Last week sixty-one students represented Connecticut at the prestigious 2020 National History Day® Contest at the University of Maryland. Having advanced by placing in first or second place at the Connecticut State Contest last month, they joined close to 3,000 students from the U.S. and overseas to compete at the national level.

More than 4,500 middle and high school students participated in the 2020 Connecticut History Day (CHD) competition, one of 58 affiliate programs of National History Day. This year’s National Contest was held virtually, as were the majority of Connecticut’s Regional Contests and the State Contest. National History Day was one of the few academic contests that did not cancel due to Covid-19, but continued on in a virtual format.

“I have received so many comments from students and parents as to how grateful they are that Connecticut History Day was not canceled,” said Sharon Wlodarczyk, longtime History Day teacher. “They welcomed the academic challenges it provides and the sense of normalcy that was missing once we went into lock down.”

Inspired by the theme Breaking Barriers in History, high school and middle school students wrote papers, created exhibits, produced documentaries, designed websites and staged performances exploring topics ranging from Prudence Crandall to the Beatles to the creation of the telegraph.

The following students were awarded prized at the National Contest in a virtual ceremony on Saturday, June 20:

• Kathryn Lucente from Red Maple Home School, New Milford won the Captain Ken Coskey Naval History Prize: Junior Division for her exhibit, Breaking the Wrong Barriers: The Kara Hulgreen Controversy
• Claire Flynn from Sedgwick Middle School, West Hartford won Outstanding Connecticut Entry: Junior Division for her exhibit Cycling on the Road to Freedom: How the Safety Bicycle Broke Barriers for Women in the United States
• Iniya Raja from South Windsor High School won Outstanding Connecticut Entry: Senior Division for her performance, Breaking Illegal Surveillance: The Burglars Who Stole the Secrets of the FBI.

Other Top 10 Finalists from Connecticut include:

• 4th Place: Emma Nodberg and Lea Rivel from Staples High School, Westport for their Senior Group Website, Robert Smalls: Breaking the Barrier of Intolerance.
• 7th Place: Ishan Prasad from Staples High School, Westport for his Senior Paper, Ford, Rockefeller, and Gandhi: Breaking Human Rights Barriers through Population Control, 1951-1977.
• 7th Place: Sophie Shen from Scotts Ridge Middle School, Ridgefield for her Junior Individual Website, Dolly: The World’s Most Famous Sheep Who Shattered Barriers and Changed the World.
• 10th Place: Audrey Chairvolotti from Chairvolotti Home School, Simsbury for her Senior Individual Website, Caroline Hewins: Opening the World of Libraries to Children.

Additionally, two Connecticut students had their documentary selected for a digital showcase at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Nandini Shah and Leah Glaspey, from Irving Robbins Middle School, submitted the documentary on a Connecticut topic - The Deafening Sound of Barriers Being Broken: The American School for the Deaf. It was one of 35 documentaries selected from 212 submissions.

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.