College Park, MD.—National History Day® (NHD), and the White House Historical Association are pleased to announce an online showcase of 15 student papers. The papers were researched and composed by middle and high school students competing in the 2022 NHD National Contest. This year’s showcase allows for a national audience to experience these student papers, and are available for view from Monday, June 13 until Monday, June 27.
The 2022 White House Historical Association Paper Showcase will highlight National History Day papers about the history of the White House and/or the Presidency. These papers also reflect the 2022 NHD theme, Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. The papers cover topics from the early republic to the twentieth century, and include topics of foreign and domestic policy.
“During the last three years, we have all seen the dedication and perseverance of students who have adapted to extreme circumstances,” shares Executive Director Cathy Gorn. “Yet, we are heartened to see that they continue to excel and innovate, learning about the past through deep research and expressing their arguments in such meaningful ways. We are also very grateful that our partner, the White House Historical Association, has shared their time and resources to showcase the stellar work of these history students.”
“The White House Historical Association is honored to showcase the research and writing of top history students across the United States,” stated Association Senior Vice President Dr. Colleen Shogan. “We encourage the public to learn from these papers and engage with them.”
The 15 papers will be available to read online for two weeks, exclusively at the White House Historical Association’s website, whitehousehistory.org, from Monday, June 13 through Monday, June 27.
The following papers and students have been selected for this showcase:
Title: Brutal Beginnings: Theodore Roosevelt’s Diplomatic Influence on Debate over Early American Football
Student(s): Ellie Parsons
Teacher(s): Ed Glassman, Leni Arnett
School (City, State): Denver School of the Arts (Denver, Colorado)
Title: Crisis Calls for Diplomacy: The Debate Between Kennedy and Khrushchev That Brought Diplomacy To The Cuban Missile Crisis
Student(s): Elsa Lindfors
Teacher(s): Carrie Newman
School (City, State): Murray Middle School (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Title: The Debate Seen and Heard ‘Round the World: The Transformative Legacy of the Kennedy-Nixon Debates on Presidential Elections, Image Creation, and Personal and Public Diplomacy
Student(s): Julia Cerimele
Teacher(s): Andrew Michalek
School (City, State): Regina Dominican High School (Wilmette, Illinois)
Title: Diplomatic Inception: How George Washington Used Jay’s and Pinckney’s Treaties to Preserve Peace and Prosperity in the United States during the Early Federal Period
Student(s): Aiden Mathai
Teacher(s): Ann Heaslip
School (City, State): Blacksburg New School (Blacksburg, Virginia)
Title: Dirty Diplomacy: U.S. Diplomacy, Human Rights, and the Argentinian Dirty War
Student(s): David An
Teacher(s): Maxwell Johnson
School (City, State): Culver Academies (Culver, Indiana)
Title: Hamilton vs. Jefferson: Early Republic Diplomacy and the Debate That Shaped the Nation
Student(s): Omar Elbadawy
Teacher(s): Connie Miller, Joe Parrino
School (City, State): Birchwood School of Hawken (Cleveland, Ohio)
Title: Herbert Hoover: Humanitarian Hero Halts Hunger Through Food Diplomacy
Student(s): Elexa O’Neill
Teacher(s): Suzan Turner
School (City, State): Nashua-
Plainfield Junior-Senior High School (Nashua, Iowa)
Title: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: Debate and Diplomacy Over The National Origins Quota
Student(s): Sabina Hagen
Teacher(s): Jill Shull
School (City, State): Haycock Elementary School (Falls Church, Virginia)
Title: Learning From the Past: Nixon’s Visit to China and the Role of Nuanced Diplomacy to Build Global Peace and Stability
Student(s): Ariana Thornton
Teacher(s): Kent McConnell
School (City, State): Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, New Hampshire)
Title: “The Little Ball Moves the Big Ball”: How a Group of Unlikely Diplomats Brought China and America Together with Ping Pong
Student(s): Katherine Liu
Teacher(s): Jennifer Eckel
School (City, State): Stillwater Junior High School (Stillwater, Oklahoma)
Title: A Little Ball Propels the Globe: How Ping-Pong Diplomacy Transformed 20th Century Geopolitical Dynamics
Student(s): Hallie Xu
Teacher(s): Bill Souser
School (City, State): Lakeside School (Seattle, Washington)
Title: “Steel City” Diplomacy: Tomas Masaryk, The Pittsburgh Agreement, and the Establishment of Czechoslovakian Independence
Student(s): Cassandra Lofgren
Teacher(s): Ross Farmer
School (City, State): Belle Vernon Area Middle School (Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania)
Title: Victory at Home, Victory Abroad: How the Double V Campaign and A. Philip Randolph Shaped the Debate over Service and Diplomacy with the Government in the African American Community During World War II
Student(s): Andrew Minagar
Teacher(s): Karen Soileau
School (City, State): Caddo Parish Magnet High School (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Title: The War on Veterans: When Their Diplomacy was Met with Tear Gas
Student(s): Sam Espach
Teacher(s): Molly Freitag
School (City, State): Alexandria City High School (Alexandria, Virginia)
Title: Yalta Conference: The Pinnacle of Wartime Diplomacy
Student(s): Azaan Naqvi
Teacher(s): Russell Williams
School (City, State): Korea International School Pangyo (Seongnam-si, South Korea)
About National History Day® (NHD)
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, which seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. The National History Day Contest was established in 1974 and currently engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Students present their research as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Projects compete first at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, Southwest Airlines, The Better Angels Society, Jacqueline B. Mars, and BBVA. For more information, visit nhd.org.
About the White House Historical Association
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy envisioned a restored White House that conveyed a sense of history through its decorative and fine arts. In 1961, the White House Historical Association was established to support her vision to preserve and share the Executive Mansion’s legacy for generations to come. Supported entirely by private resources, the Association’s mission is to assist in the preservation of the state and public rooms, fund acquisitions for the White House permanent collection, and educate the public on the history of the White House. Since its founding, the White House Historical Association has contributed more than $50 million in fulfillment of its mission. To learn more about the White House Historical Association, please visit www.whitehousehistory.org.
