Five IUSD students took top honors at the 2023 National History Day national competition earlier this month!
Northwood High School students Ritieka Kumar and Moksha Kolli won third place for their senior group documentary, after researching chemist Fritz Haber’s ammonia production process.
Portola High School students Rachel Kim and Bernice Hung won second place for Senior Group Website by highlighting the Delano grape strike’s impact on farm working conditions.
Venado Middle School student Jacob Dinh won second place in the Junior Individual Website category with a project that focused on the intersection of jazz music with the civil rights movement.
Additionally, Sierra Vista Middle School students Zixuan Cui, Yongjing Li and Isabelle Yang won three national awards including fifth place junior group website for their project delving into author Amy Tan’s influence on increasing positive representation of Chinese American people in western media.
Also, Venado Middle School teacher Hector Gamboa won the Patricia Behring NHD Teacher of the Year Award at the state competition and received a nomination at the national level for using original teaching and learning techniques to encourage his students to think critically about historical events.
Of the 18 Orange County students who advanced to the national competition, 15 were IUSD students! Click here to read more.
Congratulations to our National History Day participants!