PRESS RELEASE by Marshall Simonds Middle School teacher-advisors Barbara Sturtevant, 6th Grade Social Studies Teacher; John Walsh, Latin Teacher; John Carroll, 7th Grade ELA Teacher
April 10, 2022, Burlington, MA
Nearly 30 students at MSMS and BHS advanced to the state competition for National History Day this year.
Students first competed at the district level in a virtual competition, and anyone placing gold, silver or bronze received an entry to the state competition that was held April 9 at Winchester High School. The National History Day program has thousands of students across the world researching facts and creating projects on a topic of their choice in a specified format. Students can work in groups or individually and may choose to create a 6ft tall exhibit board, a 10-minute performance, a 10-minute documentary, design a website or write a historical essay.
This year, the theme was “Debate and Diplomacy in History; Successes, Failures, and Consequences.” Burlington student topics included Sacco and Vanzetti, Ida Tarbell, Secret Agent Garbo, the Effects of Ether, McCarthyism, Repatriation of Museum Artifacts, the WACs, the Electoral College, Music Censorship, Benazir Bhutto, the Bay of Pigs invasion, Westernization of Anime, the Partition of Africa, Video Game Censorship, Conflict between Israel and Palestine and the Statue of Liberty.
MSMS students met weekly on Tuesdays starting in October to prepare for the competition and learned research and analysis skills, interviewed experts, wrote thesis statements and annotated bibliographies, and prepared projects. BHS students worked independently, but all were NHD students at the junior division while attending MSMS.
We did very well at the state competition, with 3 projects advancing to nationals and many more being acknowledged as honorable mentions or receiving special awards. Nationals students will revise their projects in preparation for the next contest to be held in June. Typically it is held at the University of Maryland, however this year it will remain virtual. Thank you to all the competitors and their families for supporting them in this amazing and worthwhile endeavor.
1st place Junior Exhibit: Women in the Military: Briana Thomas and Lucy Clement
2nd place Junior Historical Paper: Electoral College: Effectiveness, Debates and should it be kept? Brenton Chu
2nd place Junior Group Documentary: You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll: The Debate over Music Censorship: Daniel Agati, Tae-son Mun & Zac Titus
2nd place Junior Individual Documentary: The Massive Effect of Anime Westernization: Giuliana Magrane
Honorable Mention
Senior Group Documentary: The Development of Ether: Debates and Diplomacy Throughout Medical Revolution: Matt Shannon, Emerson Waisnor & Julia Shvartsman (previous 2-time nationals competitors)
Junior Historical Paper: “Reds Under the Beds”: Joseph McCarthy and the Diplomatic Fallout of the Red Scare: Nora Ahmed
Junior Group Exhibit: The Land a Hundred Times Divided- Sofie Grossman & Nayla Mollah
Junior Individual Documentary: The Reality of Repatriation: Aarushi Dayma
Special Awards
From the USS Constitution Museum for Military History:
Junior Group Documentary: The Bay of Pigs Invasion: The Battle that was lost before it began: Anju Rajakumar, Rahul Patel & Shreeya Patel
Massachusetts Historical Society: Best Project in Massachusetts History
Senior Group Documentary: The Development of Ether: Debates and Diplomacy Throughout Medical Revolution: Matt Shannon, Emerson Waisnor & Julia Shvartsman
Congratulations to all competitors!
