This year, the National History Day competition has gone virtual but that didn’t stop IUSD students from cleaning up at the state competition, with Sierra Vista Middle School leading the way. A total of 11 history projects by IUSD students will advance to the virtual National History Day showdown June 14-18.
In all, 20 Orange County students will have their projects judged in the final showcase. Of those, seven students and four entries are from Sierra Vista Middle School.
Along with Sierra Vista Middle School, the winning projects advancing to the national competition from other IUSD schools include Irvine High School, Northwood High School, Portola High School, University High School, Beacon Park School, Lakeside Middle School and South Lake Middle School.
Each year, approximately 600,000 students across the nation, in grades four through 12, take part in National History Day events. Students, working as individuals or teams, produce original websites, papers, documentaries, performances and exhibits, which are showcased at the local, county, state and national levels. These young historians conduct extensive research on a historical topic related to the annual theme. This year’s theme was “Breaking Barriers in History.”
The Orange County Department of Education hosted the virtual countywide competition in mid-March. About 1,700 students from 294 schools later participated in California’s virtual competition. Winners were announced on Wednesday, May 13.
Here is the list of winning projects from Orange County by category:
Orange County Seniors Champions (Grades 9-12)
Group Documentary
- Breaking the Barrier of Racial Homogeneity: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
- Daniel Yang, Ethan Chen and Rachel Gima - Northwood High School
Individual Website
- The White Rose: Breaking the Barriers of the Nazi Regime
- Linda Zhong - Northwood High School
Historical Paper
- Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”: Breaking Barriers to Ignite the Modern Environmental Movement
- Amerdeep Passananti - University High School
- A Penny for Your Thoughts: How the New York Penny Press Redefined American Journalism
- Jenny Won - Portola High School
Orange County Junior Champions (Grades 6-8)
Group Documentary
- Technicolor: Witness the Rainbow
- Noah Villanueva, Jimmy Chen and Erin Chen - Sierra Vista Middle School
Historical Paper
- Ex parte Mitsuye Endo: Breaking Through Barbed Wire
- Natalie Miller - Lakeside Middle School
Individual Exhibit
- Women Breaking Barriers at Langley
- Riya Gupta - Sierra Vista Middle School
Individual Performance
- Ruby Bridges: Breaking the Segregational Barrier
- Louise Macatula - Sierra Vista Middle School
Individual Website
- Wilma Rudolph
- Wendy Cao - South Lake Middle School
Group Website
- On Behalf of the Unfortunate: Dorothea Dix, Mental Health Reformer
- Sophia Ho and Sara Kim - Sierra Vista Middle School
- Breaking Barriers in Technology and the Barriers of Space, The Arms and Space Race
- Tyler Kim, Miles Dela Cusack and Rachel Kim - Beacon Park K-8 School
Special Award Winners
California Historic Places
California Office of Historic Preservation and California Historical Society
- The 504 Sit-In: Breaking Cultural and Legislative Barriers for People with Disabilities
- Alyssa Tang and Rebecca Kornu - University High School
Conference of California Historical Societies
Conference of California Historical Societies (CCHS)
- Ex parte Mitsuye Endo: Breaking Through Barbed Wire
- Natalie Miller - Lakeside Middle School
- The Golden Gate Bridge: Breaking an Engineering Barrier
- Aadya Batra - Sierra Vista Middle School
Elizabeth Avery Award for Social Justice
Friends of NHD-CA
- The Little Rock Crisis: Breaking the Barriers of School Segregation
- Maryam Quraishi - Sierra Vista Middle School
Equality in History
Friends of NHD-CA
- The White Rose: Breaking the Barriers of the Nazi Regime
- Ling Zhong - Northwood High School
European History
Monterey Lyceum
- The White Rose: Breaking the Barriers of the Nazi Regime
- Ling Zhong - Northwood High School
Maritime History
National Maritime Historical Society
- Hungnam Evacuation: Breaking Barriers for Freedom and Humanity
- Kowoon Jeong - Irvine High School
Naval Order of the United States San Francisco Commandery Award for Outstanding National History Day Project in Maritime or Naval History
San Francisco Naval Commandry
- Hungnam Evacuation: Breaking Barriers for Freedom and Humanity
- Kowoon Jeong - Irvine High School
Social Justice and Diversity Award
California Council for Social Studies
- Painting over Barriers: Post-Revolutionary Mexican Muralism and the Wall of Marginality
- Sol Choi - University High School
Orange County Junior Champions (Grades 6-8)
Individual Documentary
- “The Ban of DDT: Triumph for Environment, Tragedy for Humans”
- Aditya Hari - Sierra Vista Middle School
Group Documentary
- “The Legacy of the Tragic Wonder Drug: Thalidomide”
- Caleb Empig, Jonathan Kang, Justin Lee and Anthony Foo - Sierra Vista Middle School
Group Exhibit
- “Panama Canal: Dividing a Land to Unite a World, Triumphs and Tragedies”
- Harrison Cho and Joshua Ikehara - Sierra Vista Middle School
Historical Paper
- “The Effect of Brown v. Board of Education on African-American Teachers”
- Natalie Miller - Lakeside Middle School
Group Performance
- “The Triumph and Tragedy of the Transcontinental Railroad”
- Cindy Ding, Olivia Cai, Sunny Wang, Rachel Huh and Rachel How - Sierra Vista Middle School
Group Website
- “Czechoslovakia, 1938: Triumph and Tragedy in a Final Stride for Peace”
- Ramon Jiang, Ethan Chen and Zhongwen Zhang - Sierra Vista Middle School
Orange County Seniors Champions (Grades 9-12)
Individual Exhibit
- “Yellowstone: The Tragedy of Native Americans and Triumph of Environmental Conservation”
- Emily Zhang - University High School
Individual Website
- “Atoms for Peace: Triumph of Scientific Diplomacy”
- James Koga - University High School
Special Awards Winners
- Catalina Pacheco Memorial Award
- Cindy Ding, Olivia Cai, Sunny Wang, Rachel Huh and Rachel How - Sierra Vista Middle School
- Naval Maritime History Award
- Christy Han - Sierra Vista Middle School
- Turning Points in History Award
- Sol Choi - University High School
- William E. Geary Memorial Award for Military History
- Christy Han - Sierra Vista Middle School