Minnesota Students Take Top Honors at National History Day Competition in Washington, D.C.

As the National History Day competition wraps up today, Thursday, July 14, Minnesota's 60 competitors took home an array of awards, including four first-place wins. An additional three entries received second and third place medals after two rounds of judging.

Awards were announced today in a ceremony at the University of Maryland, College Park. Minnesota's 60 students came from across the state, joining more than 3,000 other students from across the nation in the weeklong competition.

The students, representing grades six through 12, presented exhibits, papers, documentaries, performances and websites that showed off months of research into topics based on the 2018 National History Day theme: "Conflict and Compromise in History."

The top three national finishers in each category earn monetary awards. First place receives $1,000, second place receives $500 and third place receives $250. National History Day also recognizes one outstanding state entry in each division, junior and senior, with a medal.

Medal winners are:

• Ella Hoch-Robinson, Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis: 1st Place, Junior Individual Website, "A Duty to Serve: An Ethical Conflict, An Unethical Compromise?"

• Sofia Fish & Azalea Rohr, Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis: 1st Place, Junior Group Website, "'Great Lakes, Great Legacy?' Compromise of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement"

• Kathleen Grube, Roosevelt High School, Minneapolis: 1st Place, Senior Individual Exhibit, "The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: How Compromised Health Created an Ethical Conflict"

• Chase Baumgarten & Colin McShane, Stella Maris Academy - St. John's Campus, Duluth: 1st Place, Junior Group Exhibit, "The US Government vs. the Reserve Mining Company: A Compromise of Environment and Industry"

• Katie Nguyen & Anindita Rajamani, Highland Park Senior High School, St. Paul: 2nd Place, Senior Group Website, "Women in War: The Battle for the Inclusion of American Women in the Army and the WAAC Compromise"

• Soren Eversoll, Highland Park Senior High School, St. Paul: 3rd Place, Senior Individual Performance, "The Jungle: Upton Sinclair's Conflicts and Compromises with Industrial America"

• Kajsa Hellmark, Sunrise Park Middle School, White Bear Lake: 3rd Place, Junior Individual Exhibit, "Tinker v. Des Moines"

Other top finishers from Minnesota:

• Zoe Campion & Elsa Carlson, Open World Learning Community, St. Paul: 4th Place, Senior Group Documentary and Outstanding Senior Division Entry for Minnesota, "Plessy v. Ferguson - A Failed Compromise: 'Separate but Equal'"

• Sydney Antczak & KayLynn Kuehn, North Lakes Academy, Forest Lake: 6th Place, Senior Group Website, "Rivera's Man at the Crossroads"

• Gwen McMahon & Erika Peterson, Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis: 7th Place, Junior Group Documentary and Outstanding Junior Division Entry for Minnesota, "A Failure to Protect: UN Intervention and The Rwandan Genocide"

• Muriel Ambrus & Sophia Marret, DeLaSalle High School, Minneapolis: 9th Place, Senior Group Exhibit, "The Central Park Five"

Other award winners from Minnesota:

• Lucy Phelan, Cyber Village Academy, St. Paul: George Washington Leadership in History Award, Junior Paper, "A Great Compromise: The Sherman Plan Saves the Constitutional Convention of 1787"

• Kathleen Grube, Roosevelt High School, Minneapolis: Full scholarship to participate in the 2019 Summer National History Academy for five weeks.

About National History Day in Minnesota

National History Day in Minnesota is a co-curricular historical research program that builds college readiness and communication skills for middle and high school students. 27,000 students from over 250 schools participate in Minnesota each year. The program in Minnesota is a partnership of the Minnesota Historical Society and the University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts. Program support for is also provided by the Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008. For more information, visit education.mnhs.org/historyday.

The Minnesota Historical Society is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution established in 1849. MNHS collects, preserves and tells the story of Minnesota's past through museum exhibits, libraries and collections, historic sites, educational programs and book publishing. Using the power of history to transform lives, MNHS preserves our past, shares our state's stories and connects people with history.

The Minnesota Historical Society is supported in part by its Premier Partners: Xcel Energy and Explore Minnesota Tourism.