Forty-One Shaker Students Earn Honors at Regional NHD Competition

April 5, 2021—Congratulations to the 38 Shaker Heights High School and three Shaker Heights Middle School students who received awards and honors at the virtual National History Day Regional Competition held Saturday, March 27! Highlights include four first place prizes and five special prizes. In addition, 13 projects will advance to the virtual State-Level Contest later this month. A total of 109 Shaker Heights High School and Middle School students participated in this year’s competition. Their history teachers are Sarah Davis, Joseph Konopinski at the High School and David Saluga at the Middle School. Well done students and teachers!

Special Prizewinners

• Special Prize in Jewish History (from the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage): Soviet Posters and Jewish Identity Paper by Ari Feinberg of the Middle School

• Shaker Library Research Prize: John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry: A Spark in the Debate on Slavery Documentary by Bahji Jenkins and Madeleine Silvers of the Middle School

• International Women’s Air and Space Museum Award, International Women’s Air and Space Museum: Heddy Lamarr and the Beginnings of Bluetooth: Recognizing How a Hollywood Star Permanently Influenced Communication Paper by Emily Daley of the High School

• Early Settlers Association Awards (ESA of the Western Reserve): From Garfield to Biden: Revolutionizing Communication on a Front Porch Documentary by Josh Brown, Samuel Friguglietti and George McGuinness

• Rock & Roll History Prize from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Communication in a Song: How Lady Day Paved the Way Documentary by Laila Christian of the High School.

Senior Group Documentaries

• Honorable Mention: Communications in History:The Crisis That Almost Destroyed the World by Ezaiyah Jolly and Adrik Dutta

• 3rd Place: Mahalia Jackson: A Voice for Change by Emily Boron, Elizabeth Huang and Nora von der Heydt

• 2nd Place: Lowell Thomas, the Forgotten Man who Changed Communication by Parker Roeder, Bryan Pogel, Jackson Fowler and Andrew Farkas

• 1st Place: You’ve Gotta Give ’Em Hope!: Harvey Milk’s Work in the LGBTQ Movement by Josh Mink, Abigail Sable, Eva Neiman and Sylvia McCormack

• 3rd Place: The Emancipation Proclamation: Causes, Reactions and Effects by Ziad Alharbi, Tariq Nicholson, Angel Rosales and Luis Rosales

• 2nd Place: Tinker v. Des Moines: The Student Led Fight for Free Speech by Mary Basilion, Zara Braun, and Brendan Zbanek

• 1st Place: I am not a Weakling: How the Pentagon Papers Altered Communication Between the United States Government and Its People by Maria Krouse and Anna Welsh

• 3rd Place: Publishing Political Perspectives by Owen Tolbert, Dylan Lamb, Nick Luther, Antoine Staten

• 2nd Place: Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Godmother of Rock n Roll by Maeve Brogan and Claire Borden

• 1st Place: Influenza: The Failed Coverup of 1918 by Jonathan Jacques, Ahmed Lasheen, William Lang and Nicolo Moulthrop

• 1st Place: Communication in Song: How Lady Day Paved the Way by Laila Christian

• 2nd Place: The Making of the Modern Campaign: Turning Points in Communication with the Voter by Hazel Smith

• 2nd Place: Soviet Posters and Jewish Identity by Ari Feinberg