IUSD had a strong showing at the recent National History Day-Orange County with 34 IUSD elementary, middle and high school projects winning top honors, the most of any school district in Orange County. These champions will now compete at National History Day-California on May 2-4 at California State University, Sacramento.
Coordinated by the Orange County Department of Education, the event showcased more than 180 projects, ranging from websites and posters to documentaries, performances and even podcasts. This year’s theme was “Rights and Responsibilities in History,” which encourages examining events, ideas or actions that have significantly influenced the course of history.
Participating IUSD schools included Beacon Park K-8 School, Santiago Hills Elementary School, Jeffrey Trail Middle School, Lakeside Middle School, Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, Sierra Vista Middle School, Venado Middle School, Irvine High School, Northwood High School, Portola High School, University High School and Woodbridge High School.
Along with recognizing top projects, OCDE and its community partners honored select students with special awards for projects that exemplified their mission and vision, including the following IUSD projects:
Holocaust Education Center Remembrance and Education: Voice Against Darkness Documentary Award
“Recovering from Past Flaws: How the Nuremberg Trials Revolutionized Legal Proceedings”
Samashti Singh, Keyohn Lu and Eeshal Ali
Jeffrey Trail Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Moulton Museum Award
“Rights and Responsibilities: The Hetch Hetchy Dam and Its Environmental Impact”
Shawn Castrapel and Max Castrapel
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
OCC GATE Spotlight Award
Zhijie “Eric” Yang
University High School, Irvine Unified School District
Champions at the State Competition will advance to the NHD National Contest, which will take place June 8 through June 12 at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Good luck at the State Competition, IUSD!