Thirty-Eight Peck Students Advance to Regional History Competition

Hands-on history can still happen despite a global health crisis—just ask a sixth-through-eighth grader at The Peck School.

The 2021 National History Day Competition (NHD), a renowned program that engages students in historical research and skills development, is a cornerstone of Peck’s Upper School history program. For nearly a decade, students in grades six through eight have participated annually, along with more than half a million students across the country, deepening their critical thinking and problem solving skills, practicing formal historical research, and elevating their confidence and agency in learning. As the Covid pandemic intensified in early 2020, NHD found ways to continue their programming using virtual resources—allowing Peck to retain this engaging, immersive experience for students.

“Our students overcame a number of novel challenges this year, given the pandemic,” said History Department Chair Sue Longenecker.  “In the past we’ve had access to Peck’s expansive library—but, that space is a first grade classroom this year.  [To support Covid safety measures such as grade-level cohorting for in-person learning, Peck moved all classrooms to its largest spaces.] They had to be mindful of physical distancing while building exhibits, and they had to work remotely with teammates who were Zooming in. Supplies like scissors, glue sticks, and paper cutters needed constant sanitizing in between uses. And, because Peck’s History Day needed to be a virtual event, much thought was needed as to how each project could be best displayed and shared with the school. The regional round will be similar—all projects will need to be properly uploaded for NHD judging.”

Each year’s NHD competition has a theme. For 2021, Peck students enthusiastically set their minds to exploring topics relating to “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.” Working within Covid safety parameters—physical distancing, online-only research, plexi-glass barriers and masks—students still dove deeply into the process, finding ways to collaborate on group exhibits, create documentaries and performances, build websites, and write formal research papers. 

In grades six, seven, and eight, every Peck student participates in this initial round of the NHD competition, which typically results in several projects being selected to progress to the Regional level of competition. 

At a virtual assembly on January 6, 20 individual and group projects (representing 38 students), were announced to move on to the next round of competition.  They are:

Documentaries:

• Individual Documentary, The First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable, by Scarlette Liftin ‘21
• Group Documentary, The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, by Joaquin Stevenson ‘21 and Will Pertsemlidis ‘21

Exhibits:

• Individual Exhibit, Igor Stravinsky, by Max Kim ‘21
• Group Exhibit, The Navajo Code Talkers, by Campbell Abbott ‘21, Wyatt Pirtle ‘21, and Priyanka Somaiya ‘21
• Group Exhibit, The United States and The French Resistance, by Jackson Breaks ‘21, Jack Buckley ‘21, and Dante Crawford ‘21
• Individual Exhibit, Communication of the Little Rock Nine Integration, by Preston DeVieux ‘23
• Individual Exhibit, Yiddish Communication in the Jewish Culture, by Jakob Braun ‘23
• Individual Exhibit, Miguel Grau: Knight of the Seas, by Matias Stevenson ‘23
• Group Exhibit, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the United States vs. Virginia, by Annabelle Ouzounian ‘23 and Effie Young ‘23
• Group Exhibit, The Justice Bell, by Winnie Pirtle ‘23, Audrey Bendelius ‘23, Chloe Kintiroglou ‘23

Performance:

• Group Performance, Zimmerman Telegram, by James Welsh ‘21, Carson Young ‘21, and Gia Zarro ‘21

Websites:

• Group Website, National Organization of Women, by Ava DiPasquale ‘21 and Amparito Sanchez ‘21
• Individual Website, Bloody Sunday: The Forewarning to the Russian Revolution, by Lilly MacVicar ‘22
• Individual Website, Chernobyl: Mishaps, Deceit, and Discovery, by Alex Salamon ‘22
• Group Website, The Balfour Declaration: Creating a National Home for the Jews, by Hailey Downey ‘22 and CeCe Honeker ‘22
• Group Website, Chernobyl: How a Miscommunication Led to a Major Malfunction, by Sophia Kanowitz ‘22 and Lexi Schnur ‘22
• Group Website, The Chernobyl Explosion: How the Smallest of Malfunctions Led to the Biggest of Disasters, by Sahil Shah ‘22 and Ford Tufankjian ‘22
• Group Website, The Salt March: The Protest that Sparked a Revolution, by Anna Bultó ‘22, Caroline Hendrickson ‘22, and Christina Silva ‘22
• Group Website, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: How Americans Excluded an Entire Ethnic Group, by Matthew Del Vento ‘22, Christopher Fu ‘22, and Harry Lee ‘22

Research Paper:

• Research Paper, Lavender Scare, by Sophie Cheng ‘2