National Museum of American History Will Host Student Exhibits on June 14
June 8, 2023, College Park, Maryland—National History Day® (NHD) and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History are pleased to announce that 48 student-produced exhibits will be featured in a live showcase at the museum on Flag Day, June 14, 2023. The exhibits were created by middle and high school students competing in the 2023 NHD National Contest.
Many of the NHD students whose projects were selected for this showcase by NHD affiliate coordinators addressed topics relevant to their own states’ or local communities’ histories. These exhibits also reflect the 2023 NHD theme, Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.
“We are thrilled to have our students return to Washington, D.C. to compete in the 2023 NHD National Contest,” shares Executive Director Cathy Gorn. “We appreciate the National Museum of American History for hosting this showcase and sharing the work of these students with such a wide audience on a very important day at the museum.”
The following exhibits and students have been selected for this showcase:
| Title: 123 Sesame Street: The Frontier of Childhood Growth Student(s): Jennica Alixes, Anna Cao Teacher(s): Jonathan Millers School: Sierra Vista Middle School (Irvine, California) |
| Title: 3D Gaming: A Mind-Blowing Frontier in Neuroscience Student(s): Miela Bui, Laiken Voishnis Teacher(s): Christa Bui School: Noble Middle School (Berwick, Maine) |
| Title: Adolf Hitler: A Pioneer Of Propaganda In The Media Student(s): Lillah Berkson Teacher(s): Morgan Harding School: Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy (Las Cruces, New Mexico) |
| Title: “Ain’t I a Woman?”: Sojourner Truth’s Fight for Rights Student(s): Savannah Frye, Sawyer Frye, Rylee Fuson, Rayawna Holland Teacher(s): Pam Miracle School: Page School Center (Pineville, Kentucky) |
| Title: Amelia Earhart: Piloting a New Frontier in Aviation and Women’s Rights Student(s): Penny Mayfield Teacher(s): Sarah Meyer von Bremen School: St. Luke School (Columbus, Georgia) |
| Title: Amelia Earhart Taking Flight for Women’s Rights Student(s): Savanna Cero Teacher(s): Pam Brown School: All Saints Catholic School (Norman, Oklahoma) |
| Title: André Leon Talley’s Closet: The Frontier of Fashion Student(s): Rhia Basit, Ava Milisits, Kyna Owusu Teacher(s): Stephanie Gomer School: Poolesville High School (Poolesville, Maryland) |
| Title: Andrew J. Higgins: A Frontiersman Student(s): Jude M. Shadden Teacher(s): Brooke Box, Stacey Rocha School: Belle Chasse Academy (Belle Chasse, Louisiana) |
| Title: The Apgar Score: Advancing the Frontier of Neonatal Medicine Student(s): Hadley Appel, Kailin Stiles-Pena, Addison Woelfel Teacher(s): Deb Crocker, Emily Pendleton, Deb Temperly School: Bettendorf Middle School (Bettendorf, Iowa) |
| Title: Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King’s Victory on the Gender Equality and Social Justice Frontier Student(s): Allie Thomas Teacher(s): Lara Beard School: Pulaski Academy (Little Rock, Arkansas) |
| Title: The Catholic Church on the Frontiers of Social Justice: Nostra Aetate Student(s): Patrick Bunal, Sofiya Doroshenko, Neil Kreibich, Andrew Park Teacher(s): Christine Wallace School: Bergen County Academies (Hackensack, New Jersey) |
| Title: Complex Legacy of Henrietta Lacks Student(s): Lucy Dimarco, Juliet Zylla Teacher(s): Ryan Olson School: Anthony Middle School (Minneapolis, Minnesota) |
| Title: Crowning A New Queen: The Hawaiʻi Cherry Blossom Festival’s Blood Quantum Change Student(s): Yuzu Martin, Kaleo Yamamoto Teacher(s): Sarah Razee School: Kamehameha Schools—Kapālama Campus (Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) |
| Title: Eleanor Roosevelt as First Lady: More than a Hostess Student(s): Emma Cheatham, Savannah Mejia Teacher(s): Jeannine Meis School: Leon High School (Tallahassee, Florida) |
| Title: Elizabeth Smith Miller: The First Woman to Wear Pants Student(s): Rebecca Myers, Batia Wilson Teacher(s): Sean Costello School: Fairview High School (Boulder, Colorado) |
| Title: Ethel Traphagen: The Woman Who Pioneered Pants Student(s): Clarissa Hamlin Teacher(s): Audrey Hamlin School: Pineview Academy (Madison, North Carolina) |
| Title: Equal Rights For All: How The ADA Changed The Lives Of People With Disabilities Student(s): Sophie Hayes, Urvi Ranganathan Teacher(s): Stephanie Catz School: Riverstone International School (Boise, Idaho) |
| Title: The Final Frontier: How Human Computers Advanced Equality and Science at NASA Student(s): Ezra Ellenbogen, Ingrid Holda, Meredith Hurley, Grace Kaelber Teacher(s): Sarah Davis, Joseph Konopinski School: Shaker Heights High School (Shaker Heights, Ohio) |
| Title: Freedom’s Frontier: The Lecompton Constitution Student(s): Aiden Najafizadeh Teacher(s): Sonja Czarnecki School: Bishop Seabury Academy (Lawrence, Kansas) |
| Title: The Forgotten Astronomer: How Henrietta Swan Leavitt Expanded Astronomical Frontiers Student(s): Ashlynn York Teacher(s): Kristen Johnson School: Clarksville Academy (Clarksville, Tennessee) |
| Title: “Get the Girl to Check the Numbers”: How the Black Women of West Area Computing Worked in Unseen Ways to Advance Scientific Research and Drive Social Progress Student(s): Stella Pillet-Shore, Lily Zehetner Teacher(s): Gabrielle Anderson School: Oyster River High School (Durham, New Hampshire) |
| Title: HeLa: A Double-Edged Medical Revolution Student(s): Nicholas Barr, Emily Chen, Evan Residori Teacher(s): Stephanie Shimp School: West Springfield High School (Springfield, Virginia) |
| Title: “Hold On To The Land”: The Treaty of Hartford and its Eradication of Pequot Frontiers Student(s): Mary Lynch Teacher(s): Jennifer McMunn School: E. O. Smith High School (Storrs, Connecticut) |
| Title: How Barbed Wire Tamed The Wild West Student(s): Ethan Johnson, Max Mazela, Abilene McGuire, Chance Smith, Lane Stuwe Teacher(s): Mike Hobert School: Hoven High School (Hoven, South Dakota) |
| Title: Igniting New Frontiers: The Haitian Revolution Student(s): Ammon Bradshaw, Marianne Bradshaw Teacher(s): JoLyne Merchant School: Thomas Edison Charter School South (Nibley, Utah) |
| Title: “I’m Not A Comedian, I’m Lenny Bruce”: How One “Sick” Comic Made A Case For Obscenity Student(s): Ava Greenawalt, Isobel Yasenchack Teacher(s): Bethany Kissell School: Cambridge Springs Junior/Senior High School (Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania) |
| Title: John Newbery: The Man Behind the Magic of Children’s Literature Student(s): Emma Graves, Lilah Walsh Teacher(s): Jocelyn Coe, Jason ElRite School: Carmel High School (Carmel, Indiana) |
| Title: Little Rock Nine: Frontier in History Student(s): Zamorie Gipson, ZoRiyah Ray, Sha’Hollene Smith Teacher(s): Kathy Paschal School: Stanhope Elmore High School (Millbrook, Alabama) |
| Title: The Living Room War: Advancing Frontiers in Media Student(s): Alesia Dickey, Brenna Hamilton, Kathleen Hudson Teacher(s): Angie Allison School: Oak Grove High School (Oak Grove, Missouri) |
| Title: Maria Tallchief: Dancing through the Decades as a Native American Ballerina Student(s): Mary Grace Childress, Rory Dunagan Teacher(s): Jamie Gladu School: Orange Grove Charter School (Charleston, South Carolina) |
| Title: The Mother of Modern Medicine Student(s): Annie Burford, Eliza Sims, Emily Zamarron Teacher(s): Margaret Hicks School: Hernando High School (Hernando, Mississippi) |
| Title: Motown Sound Student(s): Dasia Moore Teacher(s): Amy Macneil School: Stuart Hobson Middle School Capitol Hill Cluster (Washington, D.C.) |
| Title: The National Woman’s Party Fights For The Nineteenth Amendment Student(s): Sanvi Parekh Teacher(s): Timothy Hayes School: Toll Gate High School (Warwick, Rhode Island) |
| Title: A New Age of Politics: Barbara Jordan’s Influence on the Exposure of African American Female Representation in Government Student(s): Kevin Majka Teacher(s): Jan Martinez School: Odyssey Academy – Bay Area (El Lago, Texas) |
| Title: Occupy Fort Lawton! Reclaiming Seattle’s Frontier for Tribal Justice Student(s): Kaitlin Medina Teacher(s): John Zingale School: Vancouver iTech Preparatory (Vancouver, Washington) |
| Title: The Permanent Fund: A Living History Student(s): Jeremy Narus, Rowan Wollrich Teacher(s): Todd Heuston School: South Anchorage High School (Anchorage, Alaska) |
| Title: Renal Transplant: A Frontier Revolutionizing the Medical Field Student(s): Elvadanshu Levi, Siaea Junior Osa, Leimoasina Saui’a Teacher(s): Kolose Ili, Christian Sa’alea School: Tafuna High School (Tafuna, American Samoa) |
| Title: Riverview! On the Frontier of Fun! Student(s): Vanessa Rios Teacher(s): Eric Haak, Elpidio Pintor School: Edwards Elementary School (Chicago, Illinois) |
| Title: Roe V Wade: The Birth of Women’s Bodily Autonomy Student(s): Leighton Koepplin, Alaina Nordhougen, Sophia Pfeifer Teacher(s): Zach Hochhalter School: Fargo Davies High School (Fargo, North Dakota) |
| Title: Salient Steps Toward Suffrage Student(s): Faith Aloia, Vanessa Ellis, Alisha Gentz, Francesca Palazzolo Teacher(s): Tara Fugate School: Fraser High School (Fraser, Michigan) |
| Title: Sesame Street: New Frontiers in Intellectual and Social Education Student(s): Andrew Glassmeyer Teacher(s): Stacey Trepanier School: New Vistas Center for Education (Chandler, Arizona) |
| Title: Solomon Butcher: Capturing the New Frontier–One Glass Plate at a Time Student(s): Miranda Betson, Garett Tollman Teacher(s): Moni Hourt, Nathan Kackmeister School: Crawford High School (Crawford, Nebraska) |
| Title: The Solution Within the Helix: DNA’s Revolutionary Impact on Criminology Student(s): Chloe Kivumbi, Saniya Sarolkar Teacher(s): Todd Whitten School: Burlington High School (Burlington, Massachusetts) |
| Title: Stonewall: Expanding the New Frontier of Gay Rights Student(s): Alena Vue, Keasana Soukkaserm, Samuel Lor, Daysia Moua, Gao Nou Yang Teacher(s): Joe Boeck, Shelby Miller School: Hmong American Peace Academy (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) |
| Title: Three-Point Seatbelt: The Messiah of Road Traffic Accidents Student(s): Chanwoo Kim, Soyeon Kim Teacher(s): Michelle Johnson School: American International School Chennai (Chennai, India) |
| Title: The Vaccine Revolution: How Maurice Hilleman Improved Immunology in the 20th Century Student(s): Jasper Gu, Akash Pai, Ashank Shah Teacher(s): Todd Sherwood School: Sunset High School (Portland, Oregon) |
About National History Day® (NHD)
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, that 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, The Better Angels Society, and the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation. For more information, visit nhd.org.
About the National Museum of American History
Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History seeks to empower people to create a more just and compassionate future by examining, preserving and sharing the complexity of our past. The museum, located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th streets, is open daily between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. The doors of the museum are always open online and the virtual museum continues to expand its offerings, including online exhibitions, PK–12 educational materials and programs. The public can follow the museum on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. For more information, go to https://americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.
###
