West Hartford Student Awarded At National History Day Contest

COLLEGE PARK, MD – Last week, 66 students represented Connecticut at the prestigious 2018 National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland. Having won statewide competitions, they joined more than 3,000 students from the U. S. and overseas to compete at the national level.

According to a news release, high school and middle school students wrote papers, created exhibits, produced documentaries, designed websites and staged performances Inspired by the theme "Conflict & Compromise in History," exploring topics ranging from discrimination and child labor to women’s rights.

During the week-long competition (June 10 to 14), Connecticut students received special recognition.

• Mia Porcello from St. Timothy’s School in West Hartford won First Place, Junior Individual Exhibit
• Andrew Maglio from Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford won Third Place, Junior Individual Documentary
• Andre Mead, Brooks Barry, Liv Bobby and Sebastian Zuba from Pequot Home School in Southport won the Native American History Prize
• Jason Chiu-Skow, Jordan Chiu-Skow, Johann Kobetitsch and Lyah Muktavaram from Bedford Middle School in Westport won the Outstanding Connecticut Entry Award, Junior Division
• Shea Curran and Katheryn Enquist from Staples High School in Westport won the Outstanding Connecticut Entry, Senior Division
• Meredith Griegel from Rochambeau Middle School – Region 15 in Southbury was a finalist in the Junior Individual Exhibit category
• Hannah Robinson from Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School in East Haddam was a finalist in the Junior Individual Website category

Additionally, contest officials extended special invitations to Connecticut students to exhibit their work at Smithsonian museums on Wednesday, June 13:

• Senior Lindsay Meyers from Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury exhibited her project, From Ladies to Lapins, at the National Museum of American History, along with 56 other invited students
• Museum officials invited Emmett Reilly, William Miller, David Roper and Griffin Wolf from Pomperaug High School in Southbury, to show their documentary, "New Haven Black Panther Trials," at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Their project was one of only 24 selected to be shown at the museum.

Another student, Mia Porcello, from St. Timothy’s School in West Hartford, was selected to attend the June 13 National Endowment for the Humanities Day on the Hill event. She journeyed to Capitol Hill with 20 other National History Day Contestants to meet with her members of Congress and tour the U.S. Capitol.

Throughout the week, all sixty-six Connecticut students presented their work to teams of judges, met with Connecticut’s U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, toured Washington D.C., and engaged with fellow student historians from around the country and overseas.

More than five thousand middle and high school students participate in Connecticut History Day, one of 57 affiliate programs of National History Day.

To learn more about Connecticut History Day, visit the program’s website at www.historydayct.org.

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