Dedham Student Headed To National History Competition

NEEDHAM, MA — An eighth-grader from Dedham is getting a chance to show off her historical knowledge on the national stage. Abby Coyle, a student at Monsignor Haddad Middle School, took home first place in the state National History Day competition last month and now moves on to nationals at the University of Maryland. The contest takes place June 9-13.

Each year, the competition has a theme, and this year's was "Triumph and Tragedy in History."Coyle won the state competition with her project on the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub fire in Boston, the deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, which killed 492 people. Coyle also was awarded the Massachusetts Historical Society prize for the best project in Massachusetts history.

Coyle was one of over half a million middle and high school students who entered the competition.The contest begins at the classroom level, then continues on to the district and state levels before finally reaching nationals.

This was the school's eighth straight year sending a student to the national contest and ninth national competitor. Her older sister Katie from Monsignor Haddad Middle School's class of 2016 also made it to nationals with her project on A. Phillip Randolph.