2020 History Day Results

Many thanks to all who competed in History Day on March 7, 2020 at Western Michigan University.

Next competition date: TBD

Below are the District 6 2020 State qualifiers (State competition results are in bold).

Paper

Youth

• "The Untold Case of Mendez v. Westminster: Breaking Barriers Before They Were Broken" (1st Place)
  by Robert Strong-Morse, El Sol Elementary

Junior

• "Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Julia Morgan"
  by Elizabeth Fiesbeck, Upton Middle School
• "The Girls Were the Right Pick: Crafting Guitars and Breaking Barriers" (National Finalist)
  by Mclevy Strong-Morse, Homeschool
• "The Duel Victory of the Tuskegee Airmen"
  by Jack Dingemans, Providence Christian School

Senior

• "Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Breaking the Definition of Gender Equality and Overturning Oppression"
  by Garrett Smith, South Haven High School

Performance

Youth Individual

• "The Girls of Summer" (1st Place)
  by Tori Smith, The Gagie School
• "Flying Solo: Amelia Earhart" (2nd Place)
  by Gabriella Splendorio, The Gagie School

Youth Group

• "Breaking the Western Barriers: The Lewis and Clark Expedition" (1st Place)
  by Alessandra Curvelo, Maxwell Doepker, Patrick Marks, and Koben Panse, The Gagie School
• "Anna Smith Strong: Agent 355" (2nd Place)
  by Karli Dechnick, Maisy Newton, and Sofia Wright, The Gagie School

Junior Individual

• "The Bach Cello Suites: Barriers Broken in One Line Polyphony" (National Finalist)
  by Braden Miesse, Upton Middle School
• "Lakshmibai: The Queen of Jhansi" (National Finalist)
  by Ishwari Bhatt, The Gagie School

Junior Group

• "Women's Suffrage: The Procession of Equality" (National Finalist)
  by Lila Baliunas, Hannah Hysell, Josephine March, and Mary Catherine Riley, Lake Michigan Catholic Middle School
• "Crunching Numbers and Breaking Barriers: The NASA Women Hidden Behind the Figures"
  by Erin Bos, Addison Dekoning, Charlotte Knox, and London Pierson, Baseline Middle School
• "The Manhattan Project: Atomically Breaking Barriers"
  by Elliott Anderson, Roan Burton, Andrew Curvelo, Peter Drelles, and Violet Kaplan-Neumann, The Gagie School

Senior Individual

• "Margaret Sanger: Breaking Barriers and Shaking Beliefs on Reproductive Choices" (National Alternate)
  by Kendra Burrows, South Haven High School

Senior Group

• N/A

Exhibit

Youth Individual

• N/A

Youth Group

• "Alice Paul" (1st Place)
  by Anna Chmiel, Gabriela Liggett, Reese Matzka, and Lila Nellenbach, The Gagie School
• "Eunice Kennedy and the Special Olympics"
  by Sophie Amberg, Sylvie Graziano, and Sofia Hameed, The Gagie School

Junior Individual

• "The Limping Lady: How Virginia Hall Broke Barriers to Become WWII's Most Dangerous Spy" (National Finalist)
  by Georgia Edmonds, The Gagie School
• "Elizabeth Friedman: Code Breaker"
  by Alice Harn, The Gagie School
• "Elizabeth Blackwell: Breaking Barriers in Medicine"
  by Rachel Cox, Upton Middle School

Junior Group

• "Exploring Merze Tate: Breaking Barriers Around the World" (Best Entry in Use of Newspapers)
  by Sasha Hollins, Alayna Kuhn, Nya Kuhn, and Aliah Ward, Merze Tate Explorers Organization
• "James Hanger's Effect on the Prosthetic History" (Best Entry in Use of Family History)
  by Maren Barfuss and Virginia Weykamp, Upton Middle School

Senior Individual

• "A Crack in the WASP's Nest: Women's Attempt at Breaking the Flying Barrier" (National Finalist)
  by Isabella Dacoba, Portage Northern High School
• "Breaking Barriers: The Tuskegee Airmen"
  by Elijah Fenstermaker, Heritage Christian Academy

Senior Group

• "Barriers Broken by 9/11"
  by Olivia Calnin, Emma Kilian, and Natalie Weiss, Heritage Christian Academy
• "From Bicycles and Birdwatching to Changing the World: The Wright Brothers" (National Finalist)
  by Myles Daugherty and Nic Sheppard, South Haven High School
• "Turing Broke the Code"
  by Eleanor List and Clara Smith, Kalamazoo Central High School

Documentary

Youth Individual

• "The Life of Frida Kahlo" (1st Place)
  by Jiya Singh, The Gagie School
• "Breaking Barriers: Texas Western Basketball"
  by Jake Gagie, The Gagie School

Youth Group

• "Sir Edmund Hillary: The Climb that Broke Many Barriers" (1st Place) (Best Entry in Use of Primary Sources)
  by Jordynn Dolbee, Oliva Storteboom, and Reese Storteboom, The Gagie School
• "The Elizabeth Coleman Story: How Breaking Barriers Earned Her Name, Brave Bessie"
  by Ian Micallef and Paul Rzepka, The Gagie School
• "Motown: Changing the World One Hit at a Time" (2nd Place)
  by Oliver Anderson, Hendrix Tapper, and Ian Wesselhoff, The Gagie School

Junior Individual

• "Terezin and the Boys of Home One: L-417"
  by Scarlett Hinbaugh, The Gagie School
• "Breaking Barriers On the Road to Independence" (National Alternate)
  by Parker Hosner, Kazoo School
• "The Wright Brothers: Creating Flight through Plane Curiosity"
  by Carmine Saracina, Kazoo School

Junior Group

• "The Transcontinental Railroad: Breaking Barriers and Connecting the Country"
  by Giovanni Brosco, Mason Ray, Veer Singh, and Andrew Williams, The Gagie School
• "Katherine Johnson: The Barrier Breaking Computer" (National Finalist)
  by Mya Panse and Ava Storteboom, The Gagie School
• "Julia Child: Cracking Eggs, Breaking Barriers"
  by Lauryn Daugherty and Tessa Hosier, Baseline Middle School

Senior Individual

• "Motown: The Tempo Behind the Change" (National Finalist) (Best Entry in Michigan History)
  by Tabitha Newberry, South Haven High School

Senior Group

• "Nicole Malachowski: An Unscripted Life" (National Alternate)
  by Avery Daugherty and Jessica Ford, South Haven High School

Website

Youth Individual

• "Breaking Barriers: The Transcontinental Railroad"
  by Zachary Shaman, The Gagie School

Youth Group

• "Wallbusters" (1st Place)
  by Emery Blaine and Toby Harper, The Gagie School

Junior Individual

• "Breaking Gender Barriers: A History of Women in Orchestras"
  by Kalan Ashby-Wade, Kazoo School
• "Billie Jean King - Changing a Culture" (National Alternate)
  by Chloe Nellenbach, The Gagie School
• "Orphans Preferred: How the Pony Express Broke Communication Barriers"
  by Gabriel Feffer, Kazoo School

Junior Group

• "The 1969 Moon Landing"
  by Ezra Ambs, Rohit Bobba, Sam Gagie, Rowan McKinley, and Leah Smith, The Gagie School
• "High-Speed Trains in China: Speeding into the Future"
  by Jackson Galsterer and Aaron Teng, Upton Middle School
• "Victoria Woodhull: Paving the Path to Equality"
  by Zoe Jiang and Samantha Zelenock, Upton Middle School

Senior Individual

• "Amelia Earhart: Her Mission Beyond Aviation"
  by Caroline Beckrow, Lakeshore High School

Senior Group

• "Tiananmen Square"
  by Lily Dykgraaf and Sam Dykgraaf, Heritage Christian Academy
• "The 19th Amendment" (National Alternate)
  by Ashley Barker and Kayla Bartell, Heritage Christian Academy

Special awards for the 2020 state finals competition

Best Entry in Michigan History - Sponsored by Meijer, Inc.

• "Motown: The Tempo Behind the Change"
  by Tabitha Newberry, South Haven High School

Best Entry in Use of Primary Sources - Sponsored by the Michigan Archival Association

• "Sir Edmund Hillary: The Climb that Broke Many Barriers"
  by Jordynn Dolbee, Olivia Storteboom, and Reese Storeboom, The Gagie School
  

Best Entry in Use of Family History - Sponsored by the Michigan Genealogical Council

• "James Hanger's Effect on Prosthetic History"
  by Maren Barfuss and Virginia Weykamp, Upton Middle School

Best Entry in Use of Newspapers - Sponsored by the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University

• "Exploring Merze Tate: Breaking Barriers Around the World"
  by Sasha Hollins, Alayna Kuhn, Nya Kuhn, and Aliah Ward, Merze Tate Explorers Organization