A team of two Fayetteville-Manlius High School seniors has earned a spot in a national-level history contest, and another team of three students has been selected as an alternate.
The students will take part in the National History Day competition, which is held annually at regional, state and national levels. Students work independently or in small groups to complete a research project on a topic of their choice that connects to the contest’s central theme. This year’s project theme is, “Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, and Consequences.”
Seniors Maddy Krueger and Meg Lorraine earned second place in the state-level Senior Group Documentary category for their project “Operation Just Cause: Was it Really Just?”
Seniors Elena Coman, Ziye Wang and Miranda Zheng earned third place in the state-level Senior Group Exhibit category for their project “Gastrodiplomacy During the Cold War: How Warm Food Thawed Tensions.” Third place secured them a spot in the national competition as an alternate team.
The national competition will take place virtually June 12-16, and winners will be announced on June 16. The contest is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of history, according to the NHD website. Project presentations can be a research paper, exhibit, documentary, website or performance. A panel of judges evaluate the submissions based on historical quality, relation to theme and presentation clarity.
Two individual and two team projects from F-M High School’s National History Day (NHD) Club advanced from the regional competition to the state competition that was held April 8. The two other F-M High School students who advanced to the state level after placing at the regional competition are:
- Junior Mae Cohen received first place in the regional Senior paper category for her work, “The Debate that Stalled Democracy: How an Amendment, a Referendum, and a Convention Delayed the Women’s Suffrage Movement.”
- Junior Mara McBride received second place in the regional Senior Individual Documentary category for her project, “The Reagan Carter Debate: The Deciding Factor for Middle America.”
F-M High School’s National History Day Club is advised by teachers Kristina Jeanneret and Justin Polly.