National History Day is a nationwide competition open to middle and upper school students.  Participants submit a project in one of several categories (research paper, video documentary, website, exhibit, performance) relating to a particular theme.  This year's theme is "The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies."  Projects are judged, with the winners advancing to the next level of the competition.

 

National Competition at University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

June 14-18, 2009

 

8th grader Joe Andry's website (Orville and Wilbur Wright:  The Men Whose Dreams Took Flight) took 12th place in the Junior Website competition.  8th grader Lachlan Johnson's documentary (Marion Post Walcott:  Documenting the Depression) was selected to compete in the final round (only 14 documentaries are selected), and ended up in 11th place in the Junior Individual Documentary category.  This is the first year that any Woodlawn student has progressed to the final round at the national level of NHD.

 

In addition to her final round showing, Lachlan was also presented with the History of Agriculture and Rural Life Award, which includes a $200 cash prize.  Sponsored by the Agricultural Historical Society, this award is given to the best project in the junior or senior divisions, in any category, focused on the history of agriculture and/or rural life in any country or time period.  The Agricultural Historical Society was founded in 1919 to promote the study of the history of agriculture and rural life in America and throughout the world.

 

Besides Joe and Lachlan, four more Woodlawn students also participated in the national contest (see below) - this was the largest Woodlawn contingent ever at the national level.

Official List of 2009 NHD national winners

  

State Competition at Museum of History, Raleigh

April 25, 2009

 

Woodlawn students took home three 1st place awards and two 2nd place awards at the State NHD contest - easily our best state performance ever.  All of these 1st and 2nd place finishers automatically qualify for the National NHD contest, to be held in College Park, Maryland during the week of June 14-18.

 

10th grader Erin Johnson:  1st place Senior Division Performance

8th grader Lachlan Johnson:  1st place Junior Division Individual Documentary

8th grader Joe Andry:  1st place Junior Division Website

8th grader Hailey Sherman:  2nd place Junior Division Website

7th grader Lauren Sapp:  2nd place Junior Division Research Paper

 

Additionally, 9th grader Paulina Campbell placed 3rd in the Senior Division Individual Documentary, and will be eligible to compete at the National competition due to the 2nd place winner in that category withdrawing from the contest.  9th grader Tori Rinker also placed 3rd in the Senior Division Performance category.

 

This marks sophomore Erin Johnson's second year to qualify for the NHD national finals - in the 2008 contest she won 2nd place in the Senior Division Individual Performance category at the State level and went on to compete in College Park.

 

Official results from the State competition

 

District Competition at UNC-Charlotte

April 2, 2009

 

Woodlawn sent a large contingent of middle and upper school students to the 2009 District National History Day contest held at UNC-Charlotte on April 2.  28 of our students were recognized with awards and advanced to the State competition on April 25 in Raleigh.

 

Special Prize Winners

Charlotte Trolley Car Local History Prize - $100 cash prize

    Junior Division:  Hailey Sherman (website)

    Senior Division:  Graeme Earle (research paper)

 

UNC-Charlotte Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies Prize

    Junior Division:  Lauren Sapp (research paper)

    Senior Division:  Darius Knott (website)

 

Junior Division Award Winners

Individual Performance

2) Allie Nagelski - Amelia Earhart:  The Question of Survival

 

Individual Documentary

1) Lachlan Johnson - Marion Post Walcott:  Documenting the Depression

3) Fiona Lynch - Mathew Brady:  Father of Photojournalism

 

Paper

1) Morgan Crawford -  Indira Gandhi:  The Woman Who Changed India

2) Lauren Sapp - Pol Pot's Flagitious Regime:  The Tragic Legacy of Cambodian Genocide

3) Emmy Roberts - Confucius:  Influencing the World

 

Website

1) Hailey Sherman - Dorothy Counts:  Shattering the Boundaries of Segregation

2) Joe Andry - Orville and Wilbur Wright:  The Men Whose Dreams Took Flight

3) Jack Kolls - Frank Lloyd Wright:  The Face of Modern Architecture

 

Senior Division Award Winners

Individual Performance

1) Erin Johnson - Marion Post Wolcott:  A Photographic Legacy

2) Tori Rinker - Emily Geiger:  The Secret Message

3) Chad Raines - John Marshall:  Second Father of the Constitution

 

Individual Exhibit

2) Cassidy Coutinho - Creating the Modern Monster:  The Life and Legacy of Mary Shelley

4) Judson Russell - Paul "Bear" Bryant:  The Early Years

 

Group Exhibit

2) Riley Beatty and Elizabeth Davis - Panic in the East End:  Jack the Ripper

 

Paper

1) Graeme Earle - Deconstruction:  The Symbolic Life of Alfred Moore Waddell and His Involvement in the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898

3) Sayre Weir - Eva Perón:  Ambitious Actions Leading to a Lasting Legacy

 

Website

1) Darius Knott - The Legacy of Gandhi

2) Sophia Spach - Harriet Tubman:  Life and Legacy

 

Group Documentary

1) Camden Griggs and Kester Spach - John Lennon:  One Man's Voice

2) Zach Lingle and William O'Connell - Pelé:  O Rei do Futebol

 

Individual Documentary

1) Paulina Campbell - Creating Something Out of Nothing:  The Life and Legacy of Marie Curie

2) Dana Neidinger - Joan of Arc:  Military Legend, Heretic, Saint

3) (Tie) Kathleen Elkins - On the Road to a Better Place with Charles Kurault

3) (Tie) Terin Patel-Wilson - Walter Hines Page:  The Actions and Legacies of the Ambassador

 

Other Woodlawn Participants

Senior Division Website

Chandler Zande - Stalin: The Man, The Monster, The Leader

Greg Conn - Genghis Khan

Mallorie Ables - Raphael

Bryn Davies - Marie Antoinette

Morgan Latten - Audie Murphy

Clayton Sapp - Sam Houston

Neal Bartl - Josef Mengele

 

Senior Division Documentary

Jamie Richards - Hugh Morton: His View of the World

Isaac Josephthal - Marie Antoinette - The Life and Legacy

Scott Murr - Westmoreland: History's Scapegoat

Sawyer Bowman - A Man Named Bill

 

Junior Division Website

Annie Wacker - Harriet Tubman

Briana Bodner - Louis Armstrong

Ben Hay - Cordell Hull

Natasha Wissmann - John Wilkes Booth

Lauren Ables -  Walt Disney

Zack Scott - Robert Oppenheimer

Jeremy Hall -  Bruce Springsteen

Davis Elkins - Tommie Smith

Ryan Childers - Frederick Douglass

Patrick Griffeth - Charles Drew

Sarah MacDonald - Elizabeth Van Lew

 

Junior Division Documentary

April Feldman - Mark Twain

David Keener - Steve Jobs

 

Junior Division Exhibit

Serena Barringer - Walt Disney

 

Junior Division Paper

Rhys Davies - Willie O'Ree

Forrest Daugherty - Alexander Graham Bell

Maisie Wills - "Gamal Abdel Nasser: His Struggle Against the British"

Nelle Thomas - "Confucius:  The Actions, Teachings and Pursuit of Wisdom"

John O'Connell - "Siddhartha Gautama:  Keeping Religion Simple"

Elizabeth Chen - "Dr. Sun Yat-sen:  Founder, Modernizer and Liberator of China"

Alex Lee - "David Ben-Gurion:  Founder of Israel"

John Patrick Shaw - "Desmond Tutu:  Apartheid's Peaceful Revolution"

Sydney Bowman - "Chiang Kai Shek:  Dedication to Chinese Nationalism"

Bradford Weir - "Idi Amin Dada:  How the Infamous Ugandan Destroyed Both Lives and Hope"

Iliana Ragnone - "Jane Goodall:  Observing Man's Closest Relative"