Fifty Students Collect Awards at Connecticut History Day Showcase

  • On May 31, 2022

In a triumphant return to in-person gatherings, several hundred students, parents and teachers convened at the Vernon Middle School on Saturday, April 30th to share and admire a wide variety of 2022 Connecticut History Day projects. Judging for this statewide event was held virtually this year as a result of pandemic restrictions, but participants were thrilled to be able to personally present their work to their fellow entrants and their families.  The showcase was followed by the first in-person statewide awards ceremony since 2019. 

Students in grades 6 – 12 whose projects won regional awards were invited to participate in this event, at which over fifty students received additional state-level awards in recognition of the months of work they put into their exhibits, performances, websites, documentaries and research papers.  First and second place winners will represent Connecticut in the National History Day competition next month in Maryland.  

This year’s theme was Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.

Connecticut History Day 2022 State Contest Results 

Junior Division 

Category: Junior Papers 

First Place: Divergent Paths: How the Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 Transformed the Debate on U.S.-Japan Relations 

School: Worthington Hooker School 

Student: Manxi Han 

Second Place: From Peru to Yale and back again: The Journey of the Peruvian Machu Picchu Artifacts 

School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Student: Rachel Mathew 

Third Place: To Help or To Hurt: An Exploration of DDT 

School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Student: Benjamin Burrill 

Category: Junior Group Documentary 

Bill Brayfield Award for 1st Place Junior Group Documentary 

First Place: How the White Rose Bloomed and Flourished 

School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Students: Penelope Evans and Astha Tripathy 

Second Place: Berlin Divided: The Story of Short-lived Diplomacy and Ceaseless Debate 

School: Irving A. Robbins Middle School 

Students: Isha Shenoy and Kriti Jaladurgam 

Third Place: The Tripolitan War: A Calculated Decision or a Lucky Gamble? School: Intermediate School, Shelton 

Students: Payton Severs and Stephanie Sanborn 

Category: Junior Individual Documentary 

First Place: Loving v. Virginia: Loving v. Hating 

School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Student: Gauri Kumbar 

Second Place: The Olympic Boycott Debate of 1936: Changing the Face of Discrimination Through Diplomacy 

School: Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School 

Student: Kaelyn Cambi 

Third Place: The Merritt Parkway: Debating its Way Through History School: West Rocks Middle School 

Student: Kayla Linder 

Category: Junior Group Exhibit 

First Place: Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Origins of Atomic Diplomacy School: Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School 

Students: Tessa Grethel and Sophia D’Amico 

Second Place: The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Diplomatic Dilemma School: Nathan Hale Middle School 

Students: Daniel Guo, Marianne Joy Montenegro, Anna Kvashchuk, and Olivia Papadopoulos 

Third Place: The Seneca Falls Convention: The Diplomatic Start to the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Movement 

School: Center School, Ellington 

Students: Julia Drury and Evelyn Nelson 

Category: Junior Individual Exhibit 

First Place: The Greensboro Sit-Ins: Many Faces of Diplomacy 

School: Bedford Middle School 

Student: Mulsy Mani Sundararajan 

Second Place: The Debate of Radium and Diplomacy of its Evil 

School: Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School 

Student: Kira Rand 

Third Place: Silent Spring: Rachel Carson’s Fight to Ban DDT 

School: Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School 

Student: Grace Osborne 

Category: Junior Group Performance 

First Place: Thomas Jefferson: From An Unheard Secretary of State to the President Who Won the First Barbary War, Changing the Role of Debate and Diplomacy in American Foreign Policy 

School: Madina Academy 

Students: Aanum Khan, Zara Fatima Khan, and Zainah Khaliq 

Second Place: Debate and Diplomacy Through Dialogue: How A Cold War Spy Exchange Resulted in Success 

School: Mansfield Middle School 

Student: Kalyani Tihaiya and Sophie Marcus 

Third Place: The Genesis of our National Bank: Debate, Diplomacy, and Direction School: John F. Kennedy Middle School 

Students: Kylie Purdue and Maya Costello 

Category: Junior Individual Performance 

First Place: Estelle Griswold: Debating the Past for the Future of Women’s Healthcare Rights 

School: Bristow Middle School 

Student: Eleanor Farquhar 

Second Place: Prohibition Era in Connecticut 

School: Coleytown Middle School 

Student: Joey Vazquez 

Category: Junior Group Website 

First Place: Controversy Surrounding the Israel-Palestine Separation of 1947 School: Worthington Hooker School 

Students: Maya Harpaz-Levy and Raisa Ahsan 

Second Place: Surrender of the Japanese Empire 

School: Bedford Middle School 

Students: Alex Cahaly, Samson Viner, and John Mello 

Third Place: Age Olde Debates: The First Continental Congress 

School: Mansfield Middle School 

Students: Zia Kashwan and Kaela Jia 

Category: Junior Individual Website 

First Place: “The Hull Note”: Failed Diplomacy or an Ultimatum in Disguise? School: Talcott Mountain Academy 

Student: Sia Reddy 

Second Place: The Most Hated Treaty in History 

School: Scotts Ridge Middle School 

Student: Sebastian Utomo 

Third Place: The World on Edge: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 School: Scotts Ridge Middle School 

Student: Joseph Velasco 

Senior Division 

Category: Senior Papers 

Bruce Fraser Prize for Outstanding Senior Paper 

First Place: The Armenian Genocide: The Consequences of Silence School: Loomis Chaffee School 

Student: Emily Khym 

Second Place: Army Alpha: The Unintended Consequences of the Implementation of Intelligence Testing in the United States 

School: Choate Rosemary Hall 

Student: Jeff Kim 

Third Place: The Complex Legacy of the Iran Hostage Crisis 

School: Engineering – Science University Magnet School 

Student: Lucina O’Brien 

Category: Senior Group Documentary 

First Place: Ping Pong Diplomacy: The Remarkable History of the Game That Changed the World 

School: The Taft School 

Students: Anishka Perera and Drew Niewinski 

Second Place: Ambedkar’s Mahad Satyagraha: Protesting for Rights in a Caste Based Country 

School: Ellington High School 

Students: Sivasree Nagavarapu and Daris Pon Mohan Kumar 

Third Place: The Debate of Hiroshima Atomic Bombing 

School: Ellington High School 

Students: Ava Powell, Allyson Currier, and Sydney Matz 

Category: Senior Individual Documentary 

First Place: Peru vs. Yale: a Fight for Repatriation 

School: Greenwich Academy 

Student: Grace Sullivan 

Second Place: Paving the Way or Spoiling the Day? The Unintended Consequences of FDR’s Agricultural Adjustment Act 

School: Norwich Free Academy 

Student: Brendan Bezanson 

Third Place: Ending The Troubles with Diplomatic Debate: How the Mitchell Principles paved the way towards lasting peace in Northern Ireland School: Conard High School 

Student: Claire Flynn 

Category: Senior Group Exhibit 

First Place: The 1968 Olympics: Controversy Surrounding Athletic Activism School: Ellington High School 

Students: Aidan Ladr, Natalie Kiessling, Damian Smith, and Olivia Tebbetts 

Second Place: Cold War Debate, Diplomacy, and the Creation of the Polio Vaccine: Successes, Failures, and Consequences 

School: Staples High School 

Students: Tessa Tobias, Talia Varsano, and Annika Reddy 

Third Place: The Debate and Diplomacy of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act regarding Native American Economic Improvement: Successes, Failures, and Consequences 

School: Staples High School 

Students: Isabella Rivel, Lucie Nivaud, and Kaya Law 

Category: Senior Individual Exhibit 

First Place: Angry Days 1939-1941: Should the U.S. Enter World War II? School: Staples High School 

Student: Dagny Dahl 

Second Place: Duck Diplomacy: How Walt Disney Saved FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy School: Norwich Free Academy 

Student: Joseph Cook 

Third Place: The Lowell Mill Girls: Demonstrating Diplomatic Strategy Through The First Working Women’s Union 

School: E.O. Smith High School 

Student: Mary Lynch 

Category: Senior Group Performance 

First Place: The Gold Standard’s Control Over the Working Class: William Jennigns Bryan’s Crusade to End Economic Disparity in America 

School: Enfield High School 

Students: Sophia Carrier and Kathia Diaz 

Second Place: The Congress for Cultural Freedom: The CIA’s Cloak and Paintbrush Diplomacy 

School: Rockville High School and ACT Magnet School 

Students: John Margelony and Clarissa Halpryn 

Third Place: Breaking the Bank: Political Debate and the Bank War of 1832 School: E. O. Smith High School 

Students: Sarah Levine, Julia Healey-Parera, and Lauren Levine 

Category: Senior Individual Performance 

First Place: Public Diplomacy in the Debate Between Capitalism and Communism School: South Windsor High School 

Student: Iniya Raja 

Second Place: Otto von Bismarck: Germany’s Creator and its Killer School: Trumbull High School 

Student: Elizabeth Steeves 

Third Place: The Destruction of Indigenous Cultures Through Canadian Residential Schools 

School: Pine Point School 

Student: Cecilia Zimbelmann 

Category: Senior Group Website 

First Place: Jacqueline Cochran: The Fight for Women Aviators in the Military School: Ellington High School 

Students: Nadia Zaffanella and Natalie Marshall 

Second Place: Galileo: A Scientist Ahead of His Times 

School: Ellington High School 

Students: Anna Guerette, Samantha Norton, Shayla Regan, and Ana Lundberg April 30, 2022 | 7

Third Place: The U.S.-Soviet Cultural Agreement of 1958: Successes, Failures, and Consequences of Soviet and American Diplomacy 

School: Staples High School 

Students: Elise Eisenberger, Jolie Gefen, and Tessa Cassell 

Category: Senior Individual Website 

First Place: Minamata’s Fight for Justice: How Japan’s Failed Debate and Response Sparked Local and Global Change 

School: Staples High School 

Student: Lucia Wang 

Second Place: The Cuban Missile Crisis: How Debate and Diplomacy Saved the World School: Staples High School 

Student: Matthew Delman 

Third Place: From Dictatorship to Democracy: The Peaceful End of the Apartheid Era School: Staples High School 

Student: Samantha Sheldon 

Connecticut History Day 

2022 State Contest Special Prize Results 

Outstanding Entry for Use of Materials and/or Collections Held in a CT Archive, Museum, or Historical Society tied to a CT Historic Site Sponsored by: Connecticut League of History Organizations 

Project: The Debate on Fair Labor Laws: Radium Girls in Connecticut & Beyond School: Windham Technical High School 

Students: Anaya Diaz and Olivia Beers 

Outstanding Entry in Native American History 

Sponsored by: Akomawt Educational Initiative 

Project: A One-Sided Debate: The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and how the Choctaw Nation was Manipulated into Diplomacy 

School: Bedford Middle School 

Students: Jonathan Dobinsmith, Uma Choudhury, and Zara Saliba 

Outstanding Entry in 17th Century Connecticut History Sponsored by: Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford 

Project: The Infamous Witch Trials: The Debate that led to the diplomacy of witchcraft in Connecticut 

School: Westside Middle School Academy 

Students: Melody Galarza, Skyla Aiken, and Thais Nunez 

Prize for Outstanding Entry in American Legal History 

Sponsored by: Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford 

Junior Division 

Project: Engel v. Vitale: Redefining Religion in our Schools 

School: Nathan Hale Middle School 

Students: Emi Anderson, Ian Mills, Roy Roc, Steve Charles, and Xavier Myles 

Senior Division 

Project: Griswold v. Connecticut: The Government Is My Husband? School: Norwich Free Academy 

Student: Kara Kuang 

Outstanding Entry in Connecticut History 

Sponsored by: Connecticuthistory.org, a program of CT Humanities 

Project: The Anti-Income Tax Rally of 1991 

School: Bedford Middle School 

Student: Sahil Vora 

Outstanding Entry Related to an Under-Represented Connecticut Community 

Sponsored by: Connecticut Landmarks 

Project: Sheff v. O’Neill: Revealing Hidden Racism in CT School Systems School: Torrington High School 

Student: Chelsea Cliff 

David O. White Prize for Outstanding Entry in African-American History Sponsored by: Association for the Study of Connecticut History 

Project: The Compromise of 1877: A Failed Promise 

School: Wilbur Cross High School 

Students: Cassius Morgan Coe 

Outstanding Entry in Latinx History 

Sponsored by: The Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration at Yale University 

Project: The Panama Canal: 99 Years of Debate and Diplomacy 

School: Scotts Ridge Middle School 

Student: Madeline McCartan 

Outstanding Entry in Asian American History 

Sponsored by: The Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration at Yale University 

Project: Chinese Exclusion Act: Immigration Immobilized 

School: Norwich Free Academy 

Student: Jeffrey Li 

George Washington Leadership in History Prize 

Sponsored by: The Washington Library at George Washington’s Mount Vernon 

Project: The Debate Over Representation: The Great Compromise of 1787 School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Student: Ishan Agarwal 

Outstanding Entry that Incorporates a Building, Landscape, or Archaeological Site in the US that Promotes a Historic Preservation Ethic Sponsored by: Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) 

Project: Provoking the Unprovoked: the Diplomatic Tragedy of Pearl Harbor School: Rockville High School 

Student: Nicolas Angeli 

Outstanding Entry in World History 

Sponsored by: Connecticut Council for the Social Studies 

Junior Division 

Project: Astronomy, Science, and Religion: The Debate That Changed The World School: Westside Middle School Academy, Danbury 

Students: Leah Hayes and Trevor Bischof 

Senior Division 

Project: The Fall of the Berlin Wall 

School: Brunswick School 

Student: Sayah Trahanas 

Outstanding Entry Related to Immigration, Urbanization or the Industrial Working Class 

Sponsored by: Slater Memorial Museum 

Project: Child Labor Reform In the United States: How Photographs Sparked Debate and Policy 

School: Talcott Mountain Academy 

Student: Rhea Doshi 

Outstanding Entry Related to Equality/Equity in Education Sponsored by: Prudence Crandall Museum, Inc. 

Project: Debate, Defeat, and the Legacy of a Dream: The 1831 Proposed Black College in New Haven 

School: Wilbur Cross High School, New Haven 

Students: Elias Theodore and Lily Goren 

Outstanding Entry Related to a Social Justice Issue 

Sponsored by: History Department, Southern Connecticut State University 

Project: The Fist To Debate and Change In Black Change 

School: Westside Middle School Academy 

Student: Gustavo Machado, Mauro Costa, and Soleil Young 

Outstanding Entry Related to Civics, Government, or Citizenship Sponsored by: Connecticut Democracy Center 

Junior Division 

Project: World Peace is One Flight Away: How the Creation of the Peace Corps Changed the World 

School: West Rocks Middle School 

Student: Isabella Kibbey 

Senior Division 

Project: Monkey to Man: How the Scopes Trial Sparked Widespread Debate and Influenced the American Classroom 

School: Conard High School 

Student: Daphne Brewer 

Outstanding Entry Related to Slavery or Abolition 

Sponsored by: The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition 

Junior Division 

Project: La Amistad: Debate and Diplomacy 

School: Praise, Power and Prayer Christian School 

Student: Josiah McMahon 

Project: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates – How Failure Turned to Success School: Irving A. Robbins Middle School 

Students: Mikela Dedndreaj and Riley Corcoran 

Outstanding Entry in Women’s History 

Sponsored by: Harriet Beecher Stowe House 

Junior Division 

Project: Sister Kenny: The Debate Over the Kenny Method 

School: Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School 

Students: Faith Kalisz and Molly Beach 

Senior Division 

Project: The Effects the Declaration of Sentiments Had on the Public and the Suffrage Movement 

School: Pine Point School, Pawcatuck 

Student: Hannah Satran 

Outstanding Entry that Best Incorporates Jewish History, Heritage and/or a Jewish Personality 

Sponsored by: Jewish Historical Society of Fairfield County 

Project: Sigrid Schultz: Navigating Diplomatic Journalism in Wartime America School: Manchester High School 

Students: Riley Then 

Outstanding Entry in the Arts 

Sponsored by: Wadsworth Atheneum 

Project: The Surrealist Art Movement: Melting Society’s Mold On Rationality School: Westside Middle School Academy 

Students: Mya Johnson, Rachel Joy, and Shaila Beggolo 

Special Prize for an Outstanding Entry in Aerospace or Technological History 

Sponsored by: New England Air Museum 

Project: Concorde: Success, Debate, then Failure – A Controversial Past and a Promising Future: How Circumstances Led to the Fall of the Most Successful Supersonic Plane 

School: Worthington Hooker School 

Student: Henry Mead 

Outstanding Entry Related to Debate and Diplomacy in Military History Sponsored by: UConn Office of Veterans Affairs and Military Programs 

Project: Desmond Doss: The Unlikely War Hero 

School: Ellington High School 

Student: Ava Wilson 

The Bruce Stave Special Prize for the Best Use of Oral History Prize Sponsored by: Connecticut Coalition for History 

Project: The Canadian Caper 

School: Staples High School 

Student: Benjamin Rimm 

Bill Brayfield Award for 1st Place Junior Group Documentary Sponsored by: Connecticut Coalition for History 

Project: How the White Rose Bloomed and Flourished 

School: Timothy Edwards Middle School 

Students: Penelope Evans and Astha Tripathy 

Bruce Fraser Prize for Outstanding Senior Paper 

Sponsored by: Connecticut Coalition for History 

Project: The Armenian Genocide: The Consequences of Silence 

School: Loomis Chaffee School 

Student: Emily Khym 

 

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