Photo by Audrey Larson
Left to right: Isabel Lee, Alice Zhang, Isabella Harelick, Paul Nasr, and Corrina Moss-Kelle
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Isabella Harelick, Isabel Lee, Paul Nasr, and Alice Zhang, students at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, recently competed in the National History Day® (NHD) National Contest, held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, June 13-19. They were named as a top ten finalist group in the Senior Group Documentary category.
The 2021 contest theme was Communication in History: The Key to Understanding, and in the midst of a global pandemic when many students across the country used new communication tools to attend school and pursue their studies, this year’s circumstances provided added context for the topics chosen to address the annual theme. Isabella Harelick, Isabel Lee, Paul Nasr, and Alice Zhang joined more than half a million students globally who completed projects in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Isabella Harelick, Isabel Lee, Paul Nasr, and Alice Zhang created a documentary titled A Voice for the Oppressed: Sir Harold Evans and the Sunday Times Campaign.
After completing a project, students compete in a series of contests beginning at the local level. The top students from all 50 states, D.C., U.S. territories, and international schools are invited to compete in the National Contest.
“To make it to the National Contest is always a remarkable achievement,” said NHD Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn. “Given the added challenges this year due to the ongoing pandemic, I was heartened to see NHD students prove themselves once more and persevere despite adversity. The critical thinking and research skills these students learned through competing in NHD will serve them and provide a solid foundation for success throughout their academic and professional careers.”
More than 400 historians and education professionals served as judges for the students’ work, and as with all other aspects of the contest this year, the judging was conducted remotely online. More than 100 students from across the country were awarded cash prizes between $500 and $2,000, each, for superior work in specific judging categories.
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, Southwest Airlines, the Crown Family Foundation, The Better Angels Society, the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. For more information, visit nhd.org.
