Seven Fayetteville-Manlius High School students will represent their school at a state-level history contest in April and compete for the opportunity to advance to the national competition.
The National History Day competition is held annually at regional, state and national levels. Students work independently or in small groups to complete a research project on a topic of their choice that connects to the contest’s central theme. This year’s project theme is, “Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, and Consequences.”
Members of F-M High School’s National History Day (NHD) Club submitted two individual and two team projects to the regional competition, earning first and second places in their respective categories and securing spots in this year’s state competition that will be held April 8.
- Junior Mae Cohen received first place in the Senior paper category for her work, “The Debate that Stalled Democracy: How an Amendment, a Referendum, and a Convention Delayed the Women’s Suffrage Movement.”
- Junior Mara McBride received second place in the Senior Individual Documentary category for her project, “The Reagan Carter Debate: The Deciding Factor for Middle America.”
- Seniors Elena Coman, Ziye Wang and Miranda Zheng earned first place in the Senior Group Exhibit category for their project “Gastrodiplomacy During the Cold War: How Warm Food Thawed Tensions.”
- Seniors Maddy Krueger and Meg Lorraine earned first place in the Senior Group Documentary category for their project “Operation Just Cause: Was it Really Just?”
State competition winners will be announced in early May and advance to the national competition, which will be held in June.
The contest is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of history, according to the NHD website. Project presentations can be a research paper, exhibit, documentary, website or performance. A panel of judges evaluate the submissions based on historical quality, relation to theme and presentation clarity.
F-M High School’s National History Day Club is advised by teachers Kristina Jeanneret and Justin Polly.