CT History Day contest winners announced

Connecticut History Day (CHD) 2016 Fairfield Regional Contest was held Saturday, March 19 at Sacred Heart University.

Connecticut History Day is an affiliate of National History Day® (NHD), a year-long academic program where middle and high school students conduct research on historical topics of interest. These research-based projects are entered into Regional Contests, where the top student projects have the opportunity to advance to the CHD State Contest. Student researchers, who compete at either the middle or high school level, may choose to enter into one of five CHD categories as an individual or within a group: performance, website, research paper, documentary or exhibit.

While students may base their project on a historical topic of their choosing, it must connect to the 2016 NHD theme of Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History. Through CHD, students in grades 6-12 are able to learn critical thinking, problem solving, research and presentation skills, while also developing a sense of responsibility for involvement in the democratic process.

Students who placed within the top three spots in each category will move on to the CHD State Contest taking place on April 30 at Central Connecticut State University.

Connecticut History Day is led by Connecticut’s Old State House in downtown Hartford, with support from the Connecticut League of History Organizations and Connecticut Humanities’ website, ConnecticutHistory.org. Major funding for CHD is provided by Connecticut Humanities. To learn more about Connecticut History Day visit historydayct.org, follow CHD on Facebook and Twitter. The National History Day® website may be viewed at nhd.org.

Below are the Connecticut History Day contest results:

Senior Division

Category: Group Website

First Place: Cracking the Genetic Code: The Story of DNA

Students: Allysa Noccioli, Rebecca McMahon, Meghan Reynolds

School: Stratford High School (Stratford, CT)

Second Place: Walt Disney & The American Dream

Students: Jackie Rhoads, Ella Jarvis, Zoe Lieberman

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Third Place: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Students: Hannah Roseme, Gabriela Vega

School:  Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Individual Website

First Place: Working Dogs

Students: Rebecca Lee

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Second Place: Islamophobia

Students: Nicholas Bilotti

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Third Place: Militarization of an Unwanting People

Students: Sofia Gerrard

School:  Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Group Documentary

First Place: The Sherpas: Cultural Exchange in the Shadow of Everest

Students: Brendan Moore, David Tamburri

School: Weston High School (Weston, CT)

Second Place: Panama Canal

Students: Patrick Moore, Thomas Anastos, Hari Nair

School: Wilton High School (Wilton, CT)

Third Place: Leprosy

Students: Sarah Carter, Nicole Arellano

School:  Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Individual Documentary

First Place: R.E. Olds

Students: Christian Myers

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Second Place: Langston Hughes

Students: Peri Kessler

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Third Place: American Immigration Policy 1960s

Students: Matthew Gibson

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Group Performance

First Place: Red Rubber: King Leopold’s Reign of Terror in the Congo Free State

Students: Quinn Barry, Shannon Madden, Claire Langdon, Maddie Langdon, Elena Fernald

School: Pequot Home School (Southport, CT)

Second Place: WASPs and the Flight for Equality

Students: Juliana Salamone, Katherine Hurst, Nicole Wood, Flora Dievenich Braes

School: Greenwich High School (Greenwich, CT)

Third Place: The World Anti-Slavery Conference: The Exchange That Happened . . . and the One That Didn’t

Students: Peter Bound, Paris-Sima Mohammadi, Maxine King, Suzanne Goodnow

School: Greenwich High School (Greenwich, CT)

Category: Individual Performance

First Place: Alexander the Great: The Relentless, Formidable and Influential Conquerer of the Ancient World

Students: James Gikas

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Group Exhibit

First Place: Rosie The Riveter: Women in the Workforce

Students: Isabel Saltzman, Hana Previte, Lauren White, Claire Graham

School: Wilton High School (Wilton, CT)

Second Place: Street Art: The Battle Between Art and Vandalism in

NYC

Students: Monique Ostbye, Bianca Lotti, Sarah Sherts

School:  Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Third Place: FDR and the Jewish Refugees

Students: Julia Abbazia, Sofia Dodaro

School:  Greenwich High School (Greenwich, CT)

Category: Individual Exhibit

First Place: Operation Ajax: 1953 Iranian Coup

Students: Julianna Beal

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Second Place: The Arrogance of Technology

Students: Ndidi Anekwe

School:  Stratford High School (Stratford, CT)

Third Place: Undoing Slavery in Virginia

Students: Bridget French

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Category: Senior Paper

First Place: Gandhi and King

Students: Andrew Brito

School: Academy of Information Technology & Engineering (Stamford, CT)

Second Place: Hell on Wheels: The Staple of the Nation

Students: Jessica Ulbrich

School: Academy of Information Technology & Engineering (Stamford, CT)

Third Place: Encountering the Unprecedented Turning Point in American History

Students: Mia Krishnamurthy

School: Staples High School (Westport, CT)

Junior Division

Category: Group Website

First Place: Operation Paperclip: The Nazi War Criminals that Put a Man on the Moon

Students: Victor de la Pena, Sian Auer

School: Tomlinson Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Second Place: The Battle for Baltimore: The Final Encounter

Students: Nathan Holland, Drew Sutherland, Doug Muratori, Ryan Sokol

School: Region 15 Rochambeau Middle School (Southbury, CT)

Third Place: Exploration of the Moon: Apollo 13, Failure Yet Success

Students: Evelyn Kuo, Joelle Beck

School: Region 15 Rochambeau Middle School (Southbury, CT)

Category: Individual Website

First Place: Gandhi: Exploring Non-Violence

Students: Sneha Sunder

School: Unquowa School (Fairfield, CT)

Second Place: World War I Technology

Students: Logan Neishloss

School: Fairfield Woods Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Third Place: John D. Rockefeller – The Man Who Built America

Students: Kyle Young

School: Shelton Intermediate School (Shelton,  CT)

Category: Group Documentary

First Place: Discovering The Land: A Life of Nathaniel Brown Palmer

Students: Julia Sexton, Sadie Kinnersley

School: Middlebrook School (Wilton, CT)

Second Place: The German American Bund Encounters Controversy With the American People

Students: Samantha Grayson, Shivaun Mathews

School: Region 15 Memorial Middle School (Middlebury, CT)

Third Place: Leaders of the Underground Railroad: Bridging Racial Gaps

Students: Sam Laskin, Marisa Shorrock, Gabe Sargent, Claudia Fernandez

School: Bedford Middle School (Westport, CT)

Category: Individual Documentary

First Place: Ironclads in the Civil War

Students: Matteo Andres

School: Fairfield Woods Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Second Place: The Cambodian Killing Fields

Students: Grace Milliman

School: Weston Middle School (Weston, CT)  

Third Place: Miracle of the Holocaust: Exploration of Survival

Students: Rebecca Ronai

School: Weston Middle School (Weston, CT)

Category: Group Performance

First Place: Alexander Hamilton Explores a Financial System for the New Nation of America

Students: Juliana Rodrigues, Samantha Gilbert, Max Bueno, Emily Strickland, Joe Zarif

School: Region 15 Memorial Middle School (Middlebury, CT)

Second Place: Marie Curie

Students: Colleen Cooke, Rose Linkasamy, Rose Luczaj, Caroline Coccaro

School: Roger Ludlowe Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Third Place: The Evolution of Fantasy Sports

Students: Hunter Vogel, Noah Giglietti, Justin Krebs, Alex Jaber

School: Fairfield Woods Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Category: Group Exhibit

First Place: Margaret Fogarty Rudkin

Students: Hayden Mattus, Morgan Cutler, Devenny Widmer

School: Fairfield Woods Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Second Place: Billie Holiday and Strange Fruit

Students: Anna Wilder, Aleysha Henry, Ira Boci, Toni Lamparski

School: Fairfield Woods Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Third Place: Galileo: Exploring the Universe

Students: Sona Kocinsky, Supriya Ganti

School: Madison Middle School (Trumbull, CT)

Category: Individual Exhibit

First Place: The Pequot War

Students: Chris Belden

School: Shelton Intermediate School (Shelton, CT)

Second Place: General Burgogne

Students: Eric Young

School: Tomlinson Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Third Place: Without Stones There is No Arch: Marco Polo and the Bonding of Two Continents

Students: Nick Taubenheim

School: Bedford Middle School (Westport, CT)

Category: Junior Paper

First Place: The Manhattan Project

Students: Jasmine Conley

School:  Roger Ludlowe Middle School (Fairfield, CT)

Second Place:  Barbara McClintock: Jumping into the Future        

Students: Haven Hunt

School:  Academy at Little River Farm (Redding, CT)

Third Place: World War II: Woman Encounters of Opportunities

Students: Caroline Depalma

School:  Rochambeau Middle School (Southbury, CT)