NHDKY State Contest Draws Students from across Kentucky
History is full of examples of conflict and compromise—on a personal level, between groups within society and among governments. As participants in the National History Day in Kentucky program, students all over the commonwealth have spent this year exploring conflict and compromise through original research on topics of their own choice.
They presented their research findings at regional contests in February and March. Nearly 350 elementary, middle and high school students from Bell, Carroll, Madison, Boone, Bourbon, Campbell, Fayette, Bullitt, Grayson, Kenton, Jefferson, Marshall, McCracken, Johnson, Scott, Whitley, Oldham, Martin, Pike, Menifee and Laurel Counties, their families and teachers gathered for the state competition on April 21. Topics varied from the American Revolution to the Holocaust, and baseball to suffrage. Panels of volunteer judges, including educators, historians, librarians and museum professionals, reviewed their projects.
They selected 59 junior and senior division students to represent Kentucky at the National History Day contest at the University of Maryland, June 10-14. The Kentucky Historical Society administers NHDKY. Special thanks to the University of Kentucky’s College of Education for providing the site for the state contest.
NHDKy State Contest Awards Elementary Group Performance 1st Place: Kyndra Nalley, Reagan Manco; “Patriot Versus Loyalist: A Conflict for Personal Freedom”; Lebanon Junction Elementary; Laureen Laumeyer
2nd Place: Alana Diehl, Andi Wells, Carter Wells, Brooklyn Ferrell, Silas Landefeld; “Black Death to a Rebirth: The Bubonic Plague”; Menifee Elementary School, Angela Baker, Megan Brewer
Junior Group Performance 1st Place: Bub Treece, Chandler Widener, Dalton Lawson, Ethan Smith; “Which Side Are You On? The Story of Bloody Harlan”; Bell Central School Center; Amanda Day
2nd Place: Cassandra Stines, Lauren Scott; “Letters, Prayers, and Statements of the Holocaust”; Newport High School, Shannon Gubser
Senior Group Performance 1st Place: Emma Hawkins, Hannah Tipton; “The Battle of the Kentucky Cousins: Madeline Breckinridge and Laura Clay”; Bourbon County High School, Kourtney Roe
2nd Place: Austin Yarborough, Grace Raber, Joseph Price, Noah Hollar, Tristyn Perkins; “The Transcendental”; Paducah Tilghman High School, Ashley Adkins
Elementary Individual Performance 1st Place: Eliza Esper; “A Brave New World”; Clark Elementary School, Debbie Stewart
2nd Place: Caroline Adkins; Mercy Otis Warren: “Conscience of the American Revolution”; Clark Elementary School, Debbie Stewart
Junior Individual Performance 1st Place: John Baniak; “Wet Vs. Dry: The Lessons of Prohibition”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
2nd Place: Garrett Peavler; “Caravan Compact: The conflict and compromise of the historic 1953 ascent of Everest”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
Senior Individual Performance 1st Place: Leila Abou-Jaoude; “Scoring in Silence: The Compromised Music Career of Fanny Medelssohn”; Lafayette High School, Liz Prather
Elementary Group Website 1st Place: Bailey Beyer, Kara Brien; “Working Women of WWII”; Clark Elementary School, Debbie Stewart
2nd Place: Alyssa Schuler, Hunter Etherton; “Doris Miller: Virtue That Reduced Racism and Segregation in the Military”; Lebanon Junction Elementary, Laureen Laumeyer
Junior Group Website 1st Place: Azlyn Goodyke, Elena Adkins, Liam Black; “Tennessee Valley Authority: Individual Sacrifice for Regional Gain”; Paducah Middle School, Todd Rushing
2nd Place: Ana Maria Cornea, Lynn Ye; “The Teapot Dome Scandal of 1922; How Bribery and Fraud Created a Nationwide Conflict”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
Senior Group Website 1st Place: Amos York, Claire Harmon, Karly Jones; “Stonewall”; Marshall County High School, Kelly Weaver
2nd Place: Eric Curtsinger, Victor Torres; “Labor Unions: Labor Strikes and Workers Rights”; Bourbon County High School, Kourtney Roe
Elementary Individual Website 1st Place: Russell Hancock; “Alternative Fuels: An Earth-Friendly Compromise to a Global Conflict”; Clark Elementary School, Julie Mohs
2nd Place: Ryan Bidwell; “Boston Massacre”; Clark Elementary School, Julie Mohs
Junior Individual Website 1st Place: Emily Day; “The Endless Battle: Alice Paul and Her Fight For Women’s Suffrage”; Royal Spring Middle School, Annabeth Edens
2nd Place: Aidan West; “The Black Patch Tobacco War”; Leestown Middle School, Charla Ridgeway
Senior Individual Website 1st Place: Theresa Stromberg; “Hitler & the Pope”; Kentuckiana Kolbe Academy; Joan Stromberg
2nd Place: Chloe Paddack; “Conflict & Compromise: The French Revolution”; Grayson County High School, Brent Weedman
Junior Paper 1st Place: McKenna Sun; “The HeLa Bomb: A Conflict and Compromise over Bioethics”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
2nd Place: Roxanne Lockard; “Deeds Not Words: The Conflict and Compromise of Emmeline Pankhurst”; Royal Spring Middle School, Annabeth Edens
Senior Paper 1st Place: Abigail Stanger; “A Social Wound from Louisville to Stockton: How Decades of School Violence Have Shaped our Society”; Marshall County High School, Kelly Weaver
2nd Place: Austin Li; “The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Conflict and Compromise”; Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Doug Wilkinson
Elementary Group Documentary 1st Place: Max Tolar, Nathan Franklin; “WWII Conflict and Compromise Garlin Murl Conner”; Clark Elementary School, Debbie Stewart
Junior Group Documentary 1st Place: Austin Washburn, Dusten Erwin; “The Salem Witch Trials”; Martin County Middle School, Cletus Turner
2nd Place: Kelsey Harper, Miranda Warren; “The Birmingham Church Bombing”; St. Nicholas Academy, David Trueblood
Senior Group Documentary 1st Place: Jacob Brooks, Jared Wilson, River Braden, Thor Blankenship; “Truman’s Decision: The Death of the Rising Sun and the Birth of the Nuclear Age”; Whitley County High School, Johnny White
2nd Place: Ella David, Kate Hail; “The Cuban Missile Crisis: Almost Armageddon”; Notre Dame Academy, Ron Greife
Elementary Individual Documentary 1st Place: Veracity Moore; “The Unsinkable Ship: How the End Affected the Beginning of the Change”; Clark Elementary School, Julie Mohs
Junior Individual Documentary 1st Place: Callie Thompson; “James Madison and Paul Jennings: Conflict and Compromise-Master and Slave”; Royal Spring Middle School, Crystal Showalter
2nd Place: Cecilia Stromberg; “The California Missions: Father Junipero Serra and the Native Californians”; Kentuckiana Kolbe Academy, Joan Stromberg
Senior Individual Documentary 1st Place: Montana Leigers; “Sixteen Tons: The Unionization of Coal Country”; Windsor Academy, Kelly Leigers
Elementary Individual Exhibit 1st Place: Sam Leigers; “Scrip: A Coal Miner’s Wages”; Windsor Academy, Kelly Leigers
2nd Place: Brylee Barrett; “The Pony Express”; Waco Elementary
Junior Individual Exhibit 1st Place: Emma Sherman; “The Art of Protest: Pablo Picasso Fragmented by the Political Conflicts of the 1900s”; Royal Spring Middle School, Crystal Showalter
2nd Place: Ellen Bohannon; “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
Senior Individual Exhibit 1st Place: Anastasia Shaverina; “The USSR Falls Into History”; Marshall County High School; Kelly Weaver
2nd Place: Nicholas Katsikas; “Crusade in Europe”; Larry A. Ryle High School, Doug Logan
Elementary Group Exhibit 1st Place: Anna Winebarger, Cami Asher; “The Hatfields and the McCoys”; Waco Elementary
2nd Place: Jackson Marsh, Jody Switzer, Kennedy Dries, Laura Adkins; “The Harlan Coal Wars”; Cartmell Elementary, Mary Louden
Junior Group Exhibit 1st Place: Ben Buckman, Noah Riordan; “Tuskegee Airmen: Fighting Racism Abroad and At Home”; St. Nicholas Academy, David Trueblood
2nd Place: Ashley Armstrong, Jessica Rowell; “Guerilla Girls: The Group of Women That Changed the Art World”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
Senior Group Exhibit 1st Place: Cole Wyatt, Luke Wyatt; “The Kansas-Nebraska Act: A very influential COMPROMISE that led to an even bigger CONFLICT: The Civil War”; Marshall County High School, Kelly Weaver
2nd Place: Casey Weber, Kaycelin Shaver; “Loving v. Virginia”; Academy for Individual Excellence; Ayla Murrell
NHDKy Special Awards Office of the Secretary of State Award Political History, Senior Individual Project
- Isaac Depoyster; “Is It Peace In Our Time?”; Grayson County High School, Brent Weedman
Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance Award Exhibit Design, Elementary Project
- Seth Bishop, Elizabeth Swift; “Pearl Harbor: The Bombing That Saved Europe”; Crossroads Elementary, Laureen Laumeyer
Frazier History Museum Award Kentucky History, Junior Individual Project
- Chase O’Hair; “Bloody Harlan: A Letter to A Younger Generation”; Menifee Elementary, Jennifer Wells
Sons of the American Revolution Award American History 1763-1801
- Jackson Binkley; “George Washington: Democracy over Monarchy”; Old Mill Elementary, Laureen Laumeyer
Kentucky Foundation for Women Award Women’s History, Senior Group Project
- Emma Hawkins, Hannah Tipton; “Battle of the Kentucky Cousins: Madeline Breckinridge and Laura Clay”; Bourbon County High School, Kourtney Roe
Louisville Slugger Museum Bat Certificates for Sports History Projects
- Peyton Compton; “Jackie Robinson: Taking Strikes for His Rights”; Johns Creek Elementary, Claire West
- Layne Ogle; “Freed From the Bench of Inequality and the Sidelines of Stereotyped Gender Roles: Title IX Provides Fair Territory for Women Athletes”; Royal Spring Middle School, Traci Mahone
- Annika Church; “The Belles of Baseball: A Solution to the Lack of Baseball”; Winburn Middle School, Megan Lilly
- Calvin Dillon, Collin Ramey; “Breaking the Color Line”; Johns Creek Elementary, Claire West
- Akeala Galloway; “Title IX: The Conflict that Will Not Compromise”; Crossroads Elementary, Laureen Laumeyer