Local students excel at National History Day contests

Recently, 600,000 students from all over the world participated in National History Day, a competition for individuals or groups to research a topic based on an annual theme, and then create a project to present to a panel of judges. This year’s theme was “Breaking Barriers in History.” Of the many schools that supported NHD through participation, Canyon Crest Academy was very successful. This year, through the NHD Club at CCA, multiple students participated, and one group and two individuals submitted entries and performed well in local and state competitions. All projects submitted by CCA students won awards at the local competition, held March 7 at the San Diego County Office of Education. The group project, submitted by Aron Einbinder, Samantha Yokoyama and Andrew Tsai (Torrey Pines High School), “The Jazz Era: Breaking Cultural and Racial Barriers Through Musical Expression” was awarded the Celebrating Art in History Award and the two individuals, Joanne Lee and Oliver Charat-Collins, moved on to the state competition, held virtually this year from Sacramento May 8 to 13.

Joanne Lee

(Courtesy)

At the state competition, Joanne’s project “Breaking Pride and Prejudice: Disrupting Social Conventions of the 19th Century Through Women Writers” won the History of Women’s Suffrage Award, sponsored by the 2020 Women’s Vote Centennial Commission. Oliver’s project, “Solving Smallpox: The Medical Breakthrough of the First Vaccine,” was named champion in the Senior Individual Exhibit and he was one of four students representing San Diego County at the National History Day competition, held virtually this year from College Park, Maryland June 14 to 18.

Samantha Yokoyama, Aron Einbinder, Andrew Tsai

(Courtesy)

The National History Day Club at CCA welcomes new members interested in exploring history. It plans to continue participating in NHD competitions, starting with the 2020-21 National History Day theme, Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. For more information, contact ccanationalhistorydayclub@gmail.com.