As a requirement for their history courses, all juniors complete a research project called National History Day. National History Day, or NHD, is a nation-wide competition that allows students to conduct research in unique ways, exploring and analyzing various historical topics that influence our society today. Each year, the competition choses a new theme, and this year the theme was “rights and responsibilities in history.” Students were given the opportunity to create a website, exhibit, paper, documentary, or performance in order to showcase their chosen topic in a thought-provoking manner.
Students at HHS completed this project for their individual classes, but also for the possibility of their project being submitted to the national competition. A handful of HHS students passed the first round of the competition, reaching the Regionals competition which occurred just two weekends ago at Foxborough High School.
At this competition, judges evaluated the projects and interviewed each student to determine if they should advance to the next round of the competition. Many HHS students were excited by the opportunity to showcase their projects. Junior Audrey Jones described her experience with NHD by saying, “My experience was really good. It was really cool to see all of the other groups that went and to learn about all of the other topics groups researched. It was very short and simple to get our information out there and the judges were really nice.” Similarly junior Audrey Smith exclaimed, “NHD was scary at first when we showed up, but everyone from our school was super supportive of each other! The judges were really nice when we got into the room and seemed really interested in our projects.”
HHS was extremely successful this year, as eleven students who competed at regionals are moving on to the state competition and many others received honorable mentions at the competition! The projects that are moving on to States include Tori Del’s individual documentary entitled Sylvia Rivera: The Fight for Inclusive Queer Liberation, Audrey Smith and Louisa Orth’s documentary called The Jane Collective: How Chicago Women took Abortion Rights into their own Hands, Will Crespi’s website titled Briggs v. Elliott: Breaking Barriers for African American Education and Equality, Dylan Vale’s paper entitled The Attica State Prison Riot: A Catalyst for Prisoner’s Rights and Reform, Frederick Claflin’s documentary called The Comics Code Authority, a group performance by Audrey Jones, Alexa Harris, George O’Neil, Anne Kyriss named They Were Failed so We Won’t Be, and a group performance by Anna Post and Ella Cignetti called Painted in Poison: A Story of the Radium Girls and Their Perpetual Impact on Labor Safety. Additionally, numerous others earned honorable mentions! These include Sammy Price, Max Friedman, Ellie McGrail, Ethan Warhaftig, Emma Kelley, and Madeline Accettella.
As HHS students prepare for States, some make changes to their projects based on the judges’ criticism and new ideas. Audrey Jones shared, “I am excited to move on to States. My group is trying to do some new things for States. We’re trying to add a full new scene, some more set, and lights and costumes that we didn’t have before! We are really excited! We’re hoping to make it to Nationals!” Many students share this excitement as they advance to States, looking forward to sharing their research with more individuals. Audrey Smith described, “I’m really excited for States and I hope that more people like our project!”
As the HHS students advance to States, the HHS community cheers them on in the hopes that they will make it to the NHD national competition and represent Hingham High School on a national level!
