Thirty-one Brown County students are among the finalists of the National History Day in Indiana South Central Region contest. About 230 students took part in the contest hosted by Brown County High School on April 1.
NHDI is a yearlong voluntary program in which students in grades 4 through 12 research a historical topic of their choosing and create projects in the form of documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances and websites. This year’s theme is “Taking a Stand in History.”
To reach the state contest, students must qualify at one of six regional contests across Indiana. The Indiana Historical Society invites all regional finalists to compete at state Saturday, May 6 at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis.
Volunteer judges are still needed for the state contest. Those interested in volunteering can sign up at indianahistory.com/history day.
Local students who qualified to advance to state are:
Helmsburg Elementary
Jackson Daughtery, elementary individual exhibit, “Admiral Spruance in the Battle of Midway”
Sprunica Elementary
Alexandra Thomas, elementary individual documentary, “Erin Brockovich”
Mackinzie Knaus, Taylor Lucas and Emmi Cody, elementary group exhibit, “Martin Luther King Jr.”
Ava Sanders, Ella Jackson and Madilyn Hawley, elementary group performance, “Benjamin Franklin”
Van Buren Elementary
Phoebe Schultz, youth individual website, “The Life of Adolf Hitler: His Role in World War II”
Brown County Junior High School
Abigail Padgett, junior individual exhibit, “Black and White Together: Little Rock Nine”
Molly Speaks and Kiley Harden, junior group exhibit, “Girl Power: Betty Friedan”
Abigail Neibert and Jayda Scales, junior group exhibit, “Deaf President Now”
Samantha Smith, junior individual website, “Helen Keller: Influencing the Blind and Deaf”
Mia Bryce and Alyssa Lunsford, junior group website, “Jackie Cochran: Aviator Feminist”
Josephine Fields, junior paper, “Taking a Stand for Students’ Constitutional Rights: Tinker v. Des Moines’ Journey to the Supreme Court”
Rhett Silbaugh, junior paper, “The Raid of Cabanotuan”
Brown County Intermediate School
Shelby Gaither, elementary individual exhibit, “American Farm Bureau Federation: Taking a Stand to Promote Agriculture”
Madalyn Purlee, youth individual website, “Thank You Mr. President for Preserving Our National Parks”
Brown County High School
Logan Imming, senior individual documentary, “The Battle of Vincennes”
Caleb Best and Rachel Huddleston, senior group documentary, “Muhammad Ali: Social Justice Warrior”
Mekenzie Dunnuck and Faith Eby, senior group documentary, “Women of the Klan”
Katie Goodwin and Katie Trapp, senior group exhibit, “The Saint’s Vocation”
Jasmine Ruckman, senior individual website, “The Chinese Opium Wars”
Airiona Decker, senior paper, “The Murder of Emmett Till”
Elisabeth Huls, senior paper, “Melba Phillips”
