Following months of research and county-level victories, eight history projects from Orange County were named champions in their respective categories at this year’s National History Day California competition — and now they’re headed to the NHD National Contest.
In all, 59 middle and high school students will represent California at the national National History Day showdown that will take place virtually in June, and more than a quarter of them — 15, to be exact — will come from Orange County campuses.
Six of this year’s top projects were created by nine students from Sierra Vista Middle and University High schools in the Irvine Unified School District. One winning group submission came from four students enrolled at Santiago Elementary School, a K-8 in Santa Ana Unified, and another came from a duo at Samueli Academy in Santa Ana.
About 600,000 young historians participate annually in National History Day events at the local, state and national levels. Working as individuals or in teams, students in grades 4 through 12 produce exhibits, documentaries, papers, performances and websites based on a given theme.
This year’s focus is “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.”
The 2021 National History Day-Orange County competition was held virtually, as was the state-level edition, which drew 1,169 students from 224 schools. More than 133 historians, educators and other professionals evaluated the submissions, and the awards were announced on YouTube on May 8.
Along with OC’s eight advancing champions, nine projects earned medals and six received special awards presented by event sponsors. A full list of honorees can be found at www.nhdca.org.
And here are the champions and special award winners from Orange County:
Orange County Seniors Champions (Grades 9-12)
Individual Exhibit
“Communicating the Language of the Unheard: The Watts Rebellion of 1965”
Sol Choi
University High School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jane Huson, Ann Campbell
“Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring: The Key to Modern Environmentalism and Popular Science Communication”
Grace Jin
University High School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jane Huson, Ann Campbell
Group Website
“You Are the Problem: Communicating the Needs of People with Disabilities through the 504 Sit-In”
Sofia Sevilla, Nataly Lopez
Samueli Academy, a charter school in Santa Ana
Teachers: Devin Beliveau
Orange County Junior Champions (Grades 6-8)
Individual Documentary
“Seeing through His Lens: Lewis Hine, Exposing Child Exploitation”
Hannah Cho
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jonathan Millers, Lianne Linck
Individual Exhibit
“‘We Shall Overcome’: Communication During the Civil Rights Movement”
Riya Gupta
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jonathan Millers, Lianne Linck
Group Exhibit
“The March on Washington: Utilizing Media to Communicate a Message”
Sophie Lee, Kaylyn Chen, Caleigh Nystrom
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jonathan Millers, Lianne Linck
Group Performance
“The Rodney King Riots: Understanding the Importance of Communication in Difficult Situations”
Ava Bliaya, Jazzelle Castillo, Genesis Mendez, Brooklyn Palacio
Santiago Elementary School, Santa Ana Unified School District
Teachers: Erik Peterson, Andres Arroyo
Group Website
“Hangul: Communication for the Common People”
Anna Cho, Erin Hwang
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Teachers: Jonathan Millers, Lianne Linck
Special Award Winners
Bessie Reed McDonald Award for Women’s History
Friends of NHD-CA
“Starved for Change: Hunger Strikers Communicate the Need for Women’s Suffrage in Edwardian England”
Megan Vahdat
Sage Hill School, a private school Newport Coast
California Council for the Promotion of History
“Stamp Out Smog: Prioritizing Air Pollution Control”
Katie Kim
Orange County School of the Arts, a charter school in Santa Ana
Conference of California Historical Societies (CCHS)
“Stamp Out Smog: Prioritizing Air Pollution Control”
Katie Kim
Orange County School of the Arts, a charter school in Santa Ana
Elizabeth Avery Award for Social Justice
Friends of NHD-CA
“Nina Simone: Using Music to Communicate the Black Racial Injustices of America”
Ivana Siu
Sierra Vista Middle School, Irvine Unified School District
Medicine in History
Friends of NHD-CA
“The 1964 Surgeon General’s Report: Communicating the Hazards of Smoking to the Public”
Alyssa Tang
University High School, Irvine Unified School District
William E. Geary Award for Military History
Law Office of Steven M. Olson
“Communication in History: How One Word of Defiance Turned the Tide of World War II”
Spiro Sun
University High School, Irvine Unified School District