New York City History Day

Sonya
August 1, 2023

Last June, 30 students from New York City participated in National History Day, a contest for Middle and High School students held at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD. After months of hard work crafting original historical research projects and competing in multiple contests, they were selected from over 500,000 students who competed internationally. The projects, all connected to the theme – Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas – ranged in topic and presentation. From performances examining the visionary of David Sarnoff and his impact on television; to papers examining the creation of American Chinatowns and the upkeep of community, students were able to research topics of particular interest to them. For their documentary on Doctor Georgios Papanikolaou and his wife Andromachi, students traveled to Greece tracking down Papanikolaou descendants and experts chronicling their love story and its impact on the creation of the Pap Smear, a lifesaving cancer detection method. While researching the Mendez v Westminster court case, a landmark ruling on racial segregation for Hispanic students in public schools, a student uncovered a familial connection. Because of their deep research into court documents, they were able to reconnect with family and learn new stories about their shared past.

These students' journey began in February at New York City History Day (NYCHD). Hosted by The Center for Brooklyn History at the Brooklyn Public Library. NYCHD had 330 students participate, submitting 178 projects. NYCHD is the regional contest for New York State History Day, held in April, hosted by SUNY Oneonta. 73 students from New York City were able to participate at the State level, revising their projects based on judge feedback, allowing them to hone their research and critical thinking skills.

In 2024 National History Day is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Whether in the form of a paper, exhibit, documentary, performance, and most recently, a website, millions of students have created projects based on original historical research. Following guidelines set by the National Contest, students around the world compete at regional levels before moving on to State and eventually the National contest. The Center for Brooklyn History (CBH) began hosting New York City History Day in 2020. Alongside the contest, CBH provides teacher and student workshops, in-school class sessions, and extensive resources on every part of the project creation process.

The 2024 New York City History Day contest is just around the corner. The kickoff will be held on Tuesday, September 19 at the Center for Brooklyn History. 2023 projects will be on display alongside a discussion of the 2024 theme: Turning Points in History.

The following students were recognized at the 2023 National contest:

Giles El-Assal, Kaeden Ruparel, and Daniel Murdoch from Stuyvesant High School who placed first in the Senior Group Exhibit category for “Crossing the Bridge to Brooklyn, Innovation, Prosperity, and Freedom.” Also from Stuyvesant High School, Sophia Zheng, Mary Lee, Jowita Walkup, and Mehjabin Rahman placed third for their Senior Group Website, “Sojourner, the First Planetary Rover: Changing the Face and Conduct of Space Exploration.”
Ava Konstantinidis, Diamantis Katsipoutis, Bill Tsimbikos, Alexander Lambert, and Love Lee from Hellenic Classical Charter School won the Junior Outstanding Affiliate Winner from New York State for their Junior Group Documentary, “Dr. Pap: Pioneer in Early Cancer Prevention.”
Iago Macknik-Conde won the Senior Outstanding Affiliate Winner from New York State for his Senior Individual Performance, “The Abraham Lincoln Brigade: The First Desegregated American Fighting Force.”

An additional four projects representing New York City made the final round. Congratulations to:

Benjamin Goihman from Stuyvesant High School for the Senior Individual Exhibit, “Mendez v Westminster: Challenging Latino Segregation in the U.S”
Lawson Wright from Horace Mann School for the Senior Individual Documentary, “Little Rock: A Frontier of the Global Cold War.”
Wyatt Simpson, Gabriel Oscher, Una Joy Hornick and Lucas Hayes from The Speyer Legacy School for their Junior Group Performance, "’In Nature, Nothing Exists Alone’: DDT on Trial.”
Dylan Ma, Carol Hon, Vanessa Chen, Lucas McGarvey, and William Tang from Stuyvesant for the Senior Group Performance, “David Sarnoff: The Visionary of the Television Frontier.”