East Williston School District is pleased to announce that six National History Day projects from the New York State competition including four 1st Place project finishes (two from Willets Road and two from The Wheatley School) and two 2nd Place project finishes (both from The Wheatley School) are heading to this year’s virtual National History Day final competition in June.
NHD is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history every year by encouraging students to conduct original research on historical topics of interest. Students present their research as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website with this year’s theme being “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.”
From Willets Road, seventh-grader Violet Brush was awarded 1st place in the Individual Documentary category with her project titled “The Doll Test: How Baby Dolls Spoke For America’s Black Children” and seventh-grader Willow Grosskopf was awarded 1st place for the Individual Performance category with her project titled “Sylvia Robinson: The Woman Who Transcended Race With Just One Song.”
From The Wheatley School, eighth graders Adriana Petrizzo and Alaina Pinto won 1st place in the Group Website category for their project titled “The Discovery of HIV”, eighth-grader Max Melnikov won 1st place in the Individual Exhibit category with his project titled “The Unsilenced Spring: Rachel Carson Choosing Communication Over Silence,” eighth-graders Alyssa Bhagan and Nicole Shalomov earned 2nd place in the Group Exhibit category with their project titled “Afro Hair – Style and Statement” and eighth-grader Madeline Rong earned 2nd place in the Individual Documentary category for her project titled “Norman Rockwell: Communicating Racial Inequality Through Art.”
These winners advance and will compete at the National History Day 2021 National Contest that takes place on June 13 through June 19.
In addition, Wheatley library media center specialist Jo Beth Roberts earned the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award for the Senior Division (Grades 9-12), and in turn is the New York State History Day committee’s nominee for recognition at the national level.
