Sixteen Shaker Heights High School students and one Woodbury student are Ohio History Day State Champions and National Qualifiers and will compete at the National History Day competition to be held at the University of Maryland beginning June 14.
Two additional students were named National Alternates, and overall, 30 of 36 competing Shaker students were recognized with awards at the recent state-level competition. Shaker Heights High School students also swept the category of Group Documentary.
Shaker's winners are:
JUNIOR GROUP DOCUMENTARY (6-8th Graders)
Madeline Price, National Qualifier, “The Impact of Children’s Television: The
Leadership and Legacy of Joan Ganz Cooney” (with Kaisal Shah of Hathaway Brown School)
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL EXHIBIT
Ryan Wheeler, Honorable Mention, “John D. Rockefeller: Leadership and Legacy in Standard Oil”
SENIOR GROUP EXHIBIT
Katie Muller-Girard, Kristi Seman, and Norah Clark, Honorable Mention, “Revolutionizing Reproduction: The Pill That Changed Women’s Lives”
Watson Moore, Sam Katz, Brian Johnson, National Qualifier, “Them Damned Pictures: The Legendary Cartoons of Thomas Nast”
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTARY
Nora Spadoni, Honorable Mention, “Ms., Not Mrs.: Gloria Steinem and the Founding of a Groundbreaking Magazine”
Andrew Roth, National Qualifier, “Artists of Deception: The Ghost Army”
SENIOR GROUP DOCUMENTARY
Ryan Duffett, Franklin Potiker, Jacob Maury, National Qualifier, “City Beautiful: Daniel Burnham’s Influence on the Modern American City”
Zach Brown, Nat Crowley, Will Raddock, Mathieu Girard, National Qualifier, “Poverty to Power: The Leadership and Legacy of Carl B. Stokes”
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL WEBSITE
Nadia DeGeorgia, National Qualifier, “Signs of the Times: Manualism Versus Oralism in
Deaf Education”
SENIOR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Rose McCandless, National Qualifier, “Southern Lady, Seductress, Spy: The Leadership and Legacy of Belle Boyd”
SENIOR GROUP PERFORMANCE
Tyler Smith, Rachel Brunot, Abby Kagan, Honorable Mention, “The Right to One’s Own Body: Margaret Sanger and the Rise of the Birth Control Movement”
Isabella Ilijasic, Olivia Rodriguez, National Alternate, “Caresse Crosby: Feminist Icon and Inventor of the Modern Bra”
Christine Chapman-Sung, Sophia Matts, Isabel Wang, National Qualifier, “We Will Fight Until We Win: The Lowell Textile Girls’ Fight for Labor Reform”
Awards for Outstanding Research were given to:
Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board Award
Jeremy Gimbel, “Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld: A Man Obsessed with Peace”
Sports History Award
Ari Weiss, Wyatt Eisen, “Satchel, Larry and Bill: Overcoming Odds for Successful Integration in Baseball”
Awarded by both the Society of Ohio Archivists and by Ohio Center for Law Related Education
Christine Chapman-Sung, “We Will Fight Until We Win”
Sophia Matts, Isabel Wang, “The Lowell Textile Girls’ Fight for Labor Reform”
The Ohio State University for African American History
Zach Brown, Nat Crowley, Will Raddock, Mathieu Girard, “Poverty to Power: The Leadership and Legacy of Carl B. Stokes”
The students’ teachers are Sarah Davis, Darlene Garrison, Roy Isaacs, Tim Mitchell, Heather Pincoe, and Val Libman.
National History Day was created in 1974 by David Van Tassel, a professor at Case Western Reserve University. Initially intended as a local competition, it grew to become a national program with about 700,000 participants each year.
Participating students were required to do extensive research and preparation, develop an original thesis and demonstrate their knowledge and conclusions about this year’s theme, “Leadership and Legacy in History.” Their projects vary in format, ranging from formal term papers and exhibits to dramatic performances and documentary videos. Students may work in groups or create individual projects.