On April 21st, five projects created by M-A students found their way up to the National History Day (NHD) California state competition, which was held at a bustling Sacramento State University. Students chose to work either individually or in groups and presented their research following this year’s theme, “Turning Points in History,” to judges as either exhibits, podcasts, or documentaries.
The competition turned out to be a fun and engaging experience for those who qualified for state. Sophomore Charlotte Anthony, who presented her individual documentary “Coffee in the Enlightenment: How Coffee Helped Europe Wake Up,” said, “I enjoyed watching the other documentaries and meeting high schoolers from across the state who are interested in history. It was really inspiring to see the topics that other students are passionate about and the time and effort they put into their projects to bring historical events to life.”
Sophomore Hailey Hintze submitted M-A’s second individual project with her report, “Printing in the Protestant Revolution” (center, left, right). Sophomores Cole Johnstone and Aidan Sharp’s podcast “Martin Luther’s 95 Theses Impact on Western Culture” qualified as state finalists, being the only podcast to do so at M-A.
Although NHD is integrated into sophomores’ AP World History curriculum and serves as a mandatory assignment, it isn’t for the junior classes taking AP U.S. History. Regardless, some still chose to join the competition. Juniors Maeve Miller, Elsa Teuteberg, Matilda Kratz, and Ella Thomson created a documentary, “The Pentagon Papers,” that qualified for state finals.
Two student groups ended up winning special awards for their projects, with Anthony receiving the Global Studies award and sophomores Ethan Sfatcu, Dane Hansen, Emile Freeman, Raphael Pierres, and Stephen Cheung receiving the Social Justice and Diversity award for their exhibit “¡Nunca Más! How the Juicio a las Juntas Set International Precedents” (Center, left, right).
NHD is a yearly competition M-A participates in, and from June 9-13, students who moved on will compete in the national competition for cash rewards.
