Press Release
July 1, 2019
Contact: Steve Hawkins
Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-0754
shawkins@okhistory.org
www.okhistory.org/historycenter
Oklahoma Students Take Honors at National History Day Competition
OKLAHOMA CITY — Fourteen students representing five Oklahoma school systems received recognition for their projects during the 2019 National History Day (NHD) contest. The national contest is the final stage in a series of contests at local and state/affiliate levels. Students begin their journey by presenting their projects in classrooms, schools and districts across the country. Top entries are invited to the state/affiliate level contests. The top two entries in every category at the state/affiliate level are then invited to the national contest. The 2019 National History Day Contest was held June 9–13, 2019, at the University of Maryland, College Park. Every year NHD frames students’ research within a historical theme. This year’s theme was “Triumph and Tragedy in History.”
The Oklahoma students who earned honors at the 2019 National History Day competition are as follows:
First Place in Junior Group Website: Gavin Johnson, Grahm Williams, Lawson Veit, Mason Harris and Wyatt Coffey for their website “After the Dust Settles: Saving the Soil.” Their teacher at Morrison Public Schools is Patty Sanders.
Second Place in Junior Individual Documentary: Sydney Brown for her documentary “By Chance: The Story of the First Code Talkers.” Her teacher at All Saints Catholic School in Norman is Pam Brown. She will also have the opportunity to return to Washington, D.C., in October to participate in a documentary event with Ken Burns.
State Exhibit Showcase, Senior Group Documentary: Johnathan Owen, Hannah Owen, Matthew Fleming and Trinity Fleming for their documentary “Blessed Stanley Rother: An Oklahoman Martyr.” This documentary was shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History during a special showcase on Wednesday, June 12. Their homeschool teacher is Hope Owen.
Student Documentary Showcase, Senior Group Documentary: Amelia Peoples, Kate Schein and Laurel Mossman for their documentary “Fighting for the Right to Love: The Triumph and Tragedy of Loving v. Virginia.” Their teacher at Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City is LaRadius Stephens. The documentary was shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on Loving Day, which is the celebration of the anniversary of the June 12, 1967, US Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia that made it illegal for states to ban interracial marriages.
Top 10 Junior Individual Documentary: Kealan Hamilton-Youngbird for his documentary “The Oklahoma Tax Commission vs. the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma: A Fight for Tribal Sovereignty and the Triumph of a Nation’s Right to Self-Govern.” His teacher at Grove Public Schools in Shawnee is Kim Jones.
NHD is a nonprofit education organization in College Park, Md. Established in 1974, NHD offers year-long academic programs that engage more than half a million middle and high school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. NHD also seeks to improve the quality of history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service and Southwest Airlines. For more information, visit nhd.org.
The Oklahoma History Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and is an accredited member of the American Alliance of Museums. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
###
