Nearly 70 students will be representing Tennessee at National History Day later this summer. Those students placed first or second in their categories at Tennessee History Day on Saturday.
Tennessee History Day participants entered projects in five categories: documentaries, exhibits, performances, websites and papers. While projects must relate to the annual theme, students are encouraged to be creative when choosing a topic. This year’s theme was “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange.” 97 students received medals for their efforts, 27 students were awarded special prizes, two educators were recognized as teachers of the year and one teacher was named Behring Teacher Ambassador.
This year, National History Day will be held June 12 through June 16 on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland.
“I am proud of all our students,” said Tennessee History Day coordinator Jennifer C. Core. “I’m impressed by how enthusiastic they are about their selected topics and how effectively they present their findings to a sophisticated audience. I always learn something from our students and I know the judges do as well. This year our students researched topics ranging from World War II prisoners of war to Ada Lovelace to Suleiman the Magnificent.”
The judges at Saturday’s competition – including university professors, graduate students, high school teachers, librarians, archivists and other public historians – picked the winners from the 152 submitted projects.
Tennessee History Day was coordinated by the Tennessee Historical Society, with support provided by the Tennessee Department of State, Humanities Tennessee, First Tennessee Foundation, the Memorial Foundation and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
"We have a terrific group of students who will be representing Tennessee at the national competition in Maryland," Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. "I know they will have a great experience there. With students like these, Tennessee's future is bright."
Since 1974, History Day has grown from a small local competition in Cleveland, Ohio with about 100 students into an event that attracts about a half million students nationwide each year.
For more information about the program in Tennessee, visit the National History Day website or contact Jennifer Core, National History Day’s statewide coordinator for Tennessee, at (615) 741-8934 or via e-mail at historyday@tennesseehistory.org.
The medal winners from Saturday’s Tennessee History Day competition are:
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTARY:
First Place
Title: Directing a War: Hollywood's Encounter with World War II
Student: Deanna Upchurch
School: Watertown High School, Watertown, TN
Teacher: Barbara Marks
Second Place
Title: A Pioneer in the Sky: Kiffin Rockwell
Student: Kendall Williamson
School: Cosby High School, Cosby, TN
Teacher: Hillery Griffin
Third Place
Title: “Never Underestimate the Power of Dreams”: Wilma Rudolph Encounters Barriers but Wins Gold
Student: Alyssa Neuhoff
School: The Walden School, Signal Mountain, TN
Teacher: Linda Dant
JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTARY:
First Place
Title: Encounter in Little Rock
Student: Carolina Kelley
School: Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga, TN
Teacher: Caroline Carlin
Second Place
Title: Encountering the Enemy on the Home Front
Student: Eli Thompson
School: Thompson Homeschool Cooperative/Berean Christian School ISP, Tellico Plains, TN
Teacher: Sharron Thompson
Third Place
Title: Photographer for the Parks: Ansel Adams an Encounter with Environmentalism
Student: Tate Greene
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
SENIOR GROUP DOCUMENTARY:
First Place
Title: Buying In: The Music of Vince Guaraldi
Students: Kenton Smith, Benjamin Hall
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Derek Griffin
Second Place
Title: Thinking Outside the Pox: The History of the World's First Vaccine
Students: Swati Kinger, Reethu Krishnan
School: Collierville High School, Collierville, TN
Teachers: Michelle Martin, Catherine Hammons
Third Place
Title: Shaping the World
Students: Benjamin Ball, Jack Arnold, Chloe Tremblay
School: Battle Ground Academy, Franklin, TN
Teacher: Ray Blair
JUNIOR GROUP DOCUMENTARY:
First Place
Title: Exploration of Tennessee's Journey to Desegregate Schools and Struggles Encountered Along the Way
Students: Kaylie Pomerantz, Laila Stempkowski
School: St. John Neumann School, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Michele Tarricone
Second Place
Title: Zheng He: The Peaceful Admiral
Students: Zeinab Elkhatib, Zahra Alsarhan, Fatimah Alsarhan
School: Nashville International Academy, Nashville, TN
Teacher: Ahmed Ragab
Third Place
Title: Exploring the Atom: The Encounters and Exchange at Oak Ridge, TN
Students: Ethan Hooper, Kelby Holland, Jacob Roberts
School: Whitwell Middle School, Whitwell, TN
Teacher: Taylor McDaniel
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL EXHIBIT:
First Place
Title: A Question of Loyalty: Encountering Racism on All Fronts
Student: McKenzie Desio
School: First Assembly Christian School, Cordova, TN
Teacher: Victoria Gast
Second Place
Title: Scott Bowden: The Deadly Exchange
Student: Scott Bowden
School: First Assembly Christian School, Cordova, TN
Teacher: Sherrie Hopper
Third Place
Title: The Manhattan Project: Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in the Secret City
Student: Connor McGinley
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Jill Robbins
JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL EXHIBIT:
First Place
Title: The Story of the 9th Armored Division
Student: Jon Mark Castleman
School: Dyersburg Middle School, Dyersburg, TN
Teacher: Becky Hasselle
Second Place
Title: A Dream Started on Beale Street: Stax Records Encountering Segregation in Music
Student: Kennede Boyd
School: Northeast Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teacher: Whitney Joyner
Third Place
Title: Clinton 12: The Exchanges and Encounters of Exploring Desegregation
Student: Brittani Mays
School: Northeast Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teachers: Patti Baker, Whitney Joyner
SENIOR GROUP EXHIBIT:
First Place
Title: Excavating the Tennessee Valley: Thomas Lewis, Madeline Kneberg, and Explorations in New Deal Anthropology
Students: Parker Norton, Rohan Gupta
School: McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
Teacher: Duke Richey
Second Place
Title: The 1982 World's Fair: Knoxville's Rise to Prominence
Students: Jeremiah Branson, Justin Cross, Noah Dunlap, Preston Nicely, Noah Watson
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Karen Stanish
Third Place
Title: “War Department Special Employees”: Operation Paperclip and the Exploration of New Types of Warfare with Nazi and Japanese War Criminals
Students: Jonah Sulfridge, Cameron Bergeron
School: Battle Ground Academy, Franklin, TN
Teacher: Scott Johnson
JUNIOR GROUP EXHIBIT:
First Place
Title: Jane Addams: A Pioneer for Social Justice
Students: Savannah Peifer, Elizabeth Joiner
School: Northeast Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teachers: Patti Baker, Whitney Joyner
Second Place
Title: Chief John Ross and the Trail of Tears: Difficult Encounters of the Cherokee
Students: Samantha Cheek, Andrew Cook, Georgia Wallace
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
Third Place
Title: The Impressionists: Exploring a New Art Form
Students: Mia Kojima, Isabella Miya
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:
First Place
Title: Words are Not Enough: Martha Graham and the Post War Modern Dance Movement
Student: Hannah Shelton
School: First Assembly Christian School, Cordova, TN
Teacher: Sherrie Hopper
Second Place
Title: Ada Lovelace
Student: Amanda Herring
School: Seymour High School, Seymour, TN
Teacher: Jacob Quilliams
Third Place
Title: The Gold Rush of 1849
Student: Ian McClean
School: Lenoir City High School, Lenoir City, TN
Teachers: Rachel Frazier, Kellye Renker
JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:
First Place
Title: Dorothy Harrison Eustis: Seeing History
Student: Eden Carnes
School: Carnes Homeschool, Friendsville, TN
Teacher: Elithe Carnes
Second Place
Title: Ada Lovelace: Exploration Into Computers, and the Field of Early Coding in the 1840's
Student: Arabella Sarver
School: Vonore Middle School, Vonore, TN
Teacher: Jennifer Hawkins
Third Place
Title: Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Our Hero with Black Ink
Student: Lyric Applewhite
School: West Creek Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teacher: Michael Cleghorn
SENIOR GROUP PERFORMANCE:
First Place
Title: We Shall Overcome
Students: CJ Conley, Celina Copeland, Brianna Guydon, Jasmine Johnson, Bernice Leveque
School: Stewarts Creek High School, Smyrna, TN
Teacher: Donald Fann
Second Place
Title: Suleyman's Reign: The Ottoman Empire and How it Flourished Under His Rule
Students: Inara Devji, Milanca Wang, Rebecca Price, Zephyr Barlow, Tori Moore-McMiller
School: Lausanne Collegiate School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Rebecca Hodges
Third Place
Title: Negotiating New Orleans: How Jean Lafitte Saved New Orleans and Helped Win the War of 1812
Students: John McGregor, Nathan Little
School: McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
Teacher: Duke Richey
JUNIOR GROUP PERFORMANCE:
First Place
Title: Marconi: Changing the World Through the Exploration of the First Wireless
Students: Hannah Robbins, Eli Harrison
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
Second Place
Title: Women in the WWII Workforce: Exploring New Roles
Students: Emerson Benthall, Tara Shealy, Riley Whitecotton
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
Third Place
Title: The Corps of Discovery: The Mandan Indians
Students: Ellie Vinson, Erin Siemen, Cole Gershkovich
School: Spring Station Middle School, Spring Hill, TN
Teacher: Christopher Harrod
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE:
First Place
Title: Cryptology in World War II: Cracking the Code to Modern Computing
Student: Andrea Huang
School: Ravenwood High School, Brentwood, TN
Teacher: Andrew Elrod
Second Place
Title: From Atoms to Armstrong
Student: Abigail Prosise
School: Farragut High School, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Angela Breeding
Third Place
Title: A Soviet Dissident’s Exploration of Human Rights
Student: Osman Celikok
School: Pleasant View School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Andre Clarke
JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE:
First Place
Title: Chien-Shiung Wu: Explorations of a Physicist
Student: Kate Blankenship
School: Blackman Middle School, Murfreesboro, TN
Teacher: Teri Beck
Title: Wernher Von Braun
Student: Rishi Bhojwani
School: Pi Beta Phi Elementary, Gatlinburg, TN
Teacher: Cindy Flynn
Third Place
Title: From a Frozen War to a Frozen Space
Student: Joel Barnes
School: Sunset Middle School, Brentwood, TN
Teacher: Leah Jones
SENIOR GROUP WEBSITE:
First Place
Title: The Art of Destruction: The Legacy of Nazi Cultural Exchange and Encounter
Students: Emily O'Connell, Emma McCaleb, Claire Hines
School: Battle Ground Academy, Franklin, TN
Teacher: Betsy Van Jura
Second Place
Title: “A Gruesome Encounter on Pleasant Street”: Exploring Dr. Hyde's Involvement in the Swope Family Murders
Students: Will Crawford, Ethan Todd
School: Battle Ground Academy, Franklin, TN
Teacher: Scott Johnson
Third Place
Title: History of 1920's Film: Impact of Filmmaking
Students: Tess Emerson, Meghan Fleming, Arabella Hamm
School: St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Mark McDonald
JUNIOR GROUP WEBSITE:
First Place
Title: Dirt on the Skirt: Exploring Women in Baseball
Students: Josephina Reyman, Mallory Milliken
School: Richview Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teacher: Tabitha Wilson
Second Place
Title: Marco Polo: An Exploration That Changed the World
Students: Gavin Aguilar, Tydon Brewer, Zaid Malik, Matthew Mund
School: Richview Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teacher: Tabitha Wilson
Third Place
Title: Apollo 11
Students: Samuel Paul, Camden Estes
School: First Assembly Christian School, Cordova, TN
Teacher: Victoria Gast
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL PAPER:
First Place
Title: The French Exploration and Occupation of Syria: Encounters and Exchanges that Left a Lasting Legacy
Student: Ibtihal Malley
School: Pleasant View School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Andre Clarke
Second Place
Title: Making The West Her Own: The Struggles, Victories, and Stories of Women Exploring the Mid-19th Century West
Student: Lauryn Cravens
School: University School of Nashville, Nashville, TN
Teacher: Patricia Miletich
Third Place
Title: Exploring Nuclear Energy: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Student: Emma Yambert
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Tressie Norton
JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL PAPER:
First Place
Title: Exploring the First Amendment: Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and the Exchange of Ideas Through Protest
Student: Sofia Tomov
School: Thursday Connection, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Meryl van der Merwe
Second Place
Title: Lewis and Clark
Student: Caroline Finch
School: St. George's Independent School, Collierville, Collierville, TN
Teacher: Traci Erlandson
Third Place
Title: Islam in America: Encounters and Exchanges that Forged an American Muslim Identity
Student: Muadth Malley
School: Pleasant View School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Ashir Kirk
----------------------------------------
SPECIAL AWARD WINNERS
----------------------------------------
BEST PROJECT IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY, SENIOR DIVISION:
Title: “Never Underestimate the Power of Dreams”: Wilma Rudolph Encounters Barriers but Wins Gold
Student: Alyssa Neuhoff
School: The Walden School, Signal Mountain, TN
Teacher: Linda Dant
BEST PROJECT IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY, JUNIOR DIVISION:
Title: Exploration of Tennessee's Journey to Desegregate Schools and Struggles Encountered Along the Way
Students: Kaylie Pomerantz, Laila Stempkowski
School: St. John Neumann School, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Michele Tarricone
BEST PROJECT IN TENNESSEE HISTORY, SENIOR DIVISION:
Title: The 1982 World's Fair: Knoxville's Rise to Prominence
Students: Jeremiah Branson, Justin Cross, Noah Dunlap, Preston Nicely, Noah Watson
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Karen Stanish
BEST PROJECT IN TENNESSEE HISTORY, JUNIOR DIVISION:
Title: Chief John Ross and the Trail of Tears: Difficult Encounters of the Cherokee
Students: Samantha Cheek, Andrew Cook, Georgia Wallace
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
MARGARET LINDSLEY WARDEN PRIZE FOR BEST PROJECT IN WOMEN'S HISTORY, SENIOR DIVISION:
Title: Mother of Nicaragua
Students: Jiahao Guo, Lawson McInnis, Ryan McGregor, Duncan Moore
School: McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
Teacher: Duke Richey
MARGARET LINDSLEY WARDEN PRIZE FOR BEST PROJECT IN WOMEN'S HISTORY, JUNIOR DIVISION:
Title: Women in the WWII Workforce: Exploring New Roles
Students: Emerson Benthall, Tara Shealy, Riley Whitecotton
School: Clayton Bradley Academy, Maryville, TN
Teachers: Liz Shugart, Cherie Miller
MITCHELL MIELNIK MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR THE BEST PROJECT IN SPORTS, RECREATION, OR THE ENVIRONMENT:
Title: Dirt on the Skirt: Exploring Women in Baseball
Students: Josephina Reyman, Mallory Milliken
School: Richview Middle School, Clarksville, TN
Teacher: Tabitha Wilson
SOCIETY OF TENNESSEE ARCHIVISTS AWARD FOR ARCHIVAL RESEARCH, SENIOR DIVISION:
Title: Cordell Hull: Architect of Peace
Students: Abbey Morgan, Jacob Samar, Jacob Siler, Kishan Tailor
School: L & N STEM Academy, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Tressie Norton
SOCIETY OF TENNESSEE ARCHIVISTS AWARD FOR ARCHIVAL RESEARCH, JUNIOR DIVISION:
Title: Encountering the Enemy on the Home Front
Student: Eli Thompson
School: Thompson Homeschool Cooperative/Berean Christian School ISP, Tellico Plains, TN
Teacher: Sharron Thompson
DR. RUBEN BROOKS AWARD:
Title: Exploring the First Amendment: Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and the Exchange of Ideas Through Protest
Student: Sofia Tomov
School: Thursday Connection, Knoxville, TN
Teacher: Meryl van der Merwe
DR. SAM B. SMITH AWARD:
Title: The French Exploration and Occupation of Syria: Encounters and Exchanges that Left a Lasting Legacy
Student: Ibtihal Malley
School: Pleasant View School, Memphis, TN
Teacher: Andre Clarke
PATRICIA BEHRING TEACHER OF THE YEAR, SENIOR DIVISION:
Duke Richey, McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
PATRICIA BEHRING TEACHER OF THE YEAR, JUNIOR DIVISION:
Cindy Flynn, Pi Beta Phi Elementary School, Gatlinburg, TN
BEHRING TEACHER AMBASSADOR:
Scott Johnson, Battle Ground Academy, Franklin, TN