Area students show their talents in History Day competition

More than 260 middle and high school students from 12 school districts participated in the annual Lower Hudson Valley regional History Day Competition. The event took place at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill on Saturday, March 17, and was coordinated by Rockland BOCES Educational Services Division.

The History Day program promotes the study of history, while providing a forum at which students compete for excellence in one of several categories including documentary, performance, exhibit, historical paper, and web site. This year’s theme was Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.

Clarkstown Central School District had another strong showing this year, taking first place in 13 out of 18 categories. Other top finishers include Pelham Union Free School District with 10 first-, second- or third-place winners, and Warwick Valley Central School District with four.

First- and second-place winners qualify to compete at the state level in Cooperstown on April 23. Teams representing the Lower Hudson Valley have traditionally done well in these competitions, with some advancing to compete at the national level.

Here are the winners:

Junior Historical Paper

• First Place: Una Corbett - Pelham Middle School
• Second Place: Brianna Riggio - Warwick Middle School
• Third Place: Lotenna Nwobbi - Willow Grove Middle School

Senior Historical Paper

• First Place: Steven Wessman - Pelham High School
• Second Place: Joan Lee - Clarkstown North High School
• Third Place: Max Sorice - Pelham Memorial High School

Junior Individual Performance

• 1st place: Jacob Soifer - Pelham Middle School

Junior Group Performance

• First Place: Brian Huang, Alexa Drapkin, Gianna Policastro - Felix V. Festa Middle School
• Second Place: Polele Dieng, Sinead Joyce-Farley, Rhea Dedhia - Pelham Middle School

Senior Individual Performance

• First Place: Elizabeth Kantor- Clarkstown South High School
• Second Place: Meaghan McGovern- Clarkstown North
• Third Place: Rachel Chaewon Kim- Clarkstown South

Senior Group Performance

• First Place: Jacob Kuhn, Kevin Ryu, Miskat Rahman - Clarkstown North
• Second Place: Irina Huang, Jake Gogats, Krista Ramiah - Clarkstown North
• Third Place: Sean Ryan, Samantha Brennan, Bethany Gruskin, Jackie Ferro - Nanuet High School

Junior Individual Documentary

• First Place: Raag Agrawal- Edgemont Jr./Sr. High School
• Second Place: Zachary James - Seely Place School

Junior Group Documentary

• First Place: Ben Eisenberg, Leonardo Price, Anton Repnikov - Felix V. Festa Middle School
• Second Place: Justin Johnson, Riley Munson, Alexa Melnick - Pelham Middle School
• Third Place: Jessica Greenberg, Alexa Castellano - Warwick Valley Middle School

Senior Individual Documentary

• First Place: Gregory Briker- Clarkstown North
• Second Place: Hannah Levin- Clarkstown North
• Third Place: Lauren Sapienza- Clarkstown South

Senior Group Documentary

• First Place: Shelby Hougui, Madison Deming - Clarkstown North
• Second Place: Sophie Greenberg, Erica Bosso - Clarkstown South
• Third Place: Ally Nelson, Jessica Sorace, Jack Carey, Shannon Russo, Soreya Scilipote - Tappan Zee High School

Junior Individual Website

• First Place: Michaela Foley - Felix V. Festa Middle School
• Second Place: Sharon Mathew - Felix Festa V. Middle School
• Third Place: Aiden Daly - Felix V. Festa Middle School

Junior Group Website

• First Place: Tomer Itzhaki, Vishal Mathew- Felix Festa Middle School
• Second Place: Dylan Cordaro, Timothy Pierce, William Muller, Glen Mullhaupt- Warwick Valley Middle School
• Third Place: Jared Chin, Kevin Jiang, Arjun Sharma- Felix Festa Middle School

Senior Individual Website

• First Place: Jason Levy - Clarkstown South
• Second Place: Danielle Lopez - Clarkstown South
• Third Place: Evan Cain - Dobbs Ferry High School

Senior Group Website

• First Place: Alvin Mathew, Dhruv Ragunathan, Rohan Patel, Tom Safran, Yeon Gyeong Lee- Clarkstown South
• Second Place: Blair Croce, Amanda Gerzog, Geena Digiacomo, Paige Bergstol, Jillian Stella- Suffern High School
• Third Place: Josh Berg, Robert Duggan- Clarkstown North

Junior Group Exhibit

• First Place: Sean Culwell, Michael Arciero- Felix V. Festa Middle School
• Second Place: Clara Choate, Alicia Migliarini, Kate McCarroll- Pelham Middle School
• Third Place: Piers Kwan and Leon Lei, School : Felix V. Festa Middle School

Junior Individual Exhibit

• First Place: Alex Deland- Pelham Middle School
• Second Place: Lauranne Wolfe- Warwick Valley Middle School
• Third Place: Ilaria Lampson- Pelham Middle School

Senior Group Exhibit

• First Place: Richard Adamovich−Zeitlin, Jason Adamovich−Zeitlin - Clarkstown South
• Second Place: Riya Shah, Nick Labosco, Taylor Rizzotti - Clarkstown North
• Third Place: Erica Schutzman, Roopali Shreedhar- Clarkstown South

Senior Individual Exhibit

• First Place: Rebecca Loring - Clarkstown South
• Second Place: Julia Serafin - Pelham Memorial High School
• Third Place: Kobi Axelrod - Clarkstown South