Bronxville High School Students Advance to National Level of History Competition
(from left) Rohit Mandapati, Kiran Waggoner, Walker Liggett, Charlie Hodulik and Liam Neild won third place in the group documentary category.
Bronxville High School students have advanced to the national level of the 2022 National History Day Competition after earning the top awards at the state competition. The national contest will be held virtually from June 12-16.
Having conducted extensive historical research on a topic of their choice over the last several months, the students’ authentic work focused on the 2021-22 theme of “Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.” Their work was displayed in one of five ways – paper, website, documentary, performance or exhibit. At the state competition, the students were interviewed by professors and scholars and articulated what they’ve discovered through their historical research.
Congratulations to the following students who earned awards at the state competition:
Exhibit (Group): First place – Katherine Gunduz, Leo Nevezhin and Annie Petrillo for “Chernobyl Disaster: How Diplomatic Pressure Pushed the Soviet Union to Mitigate the Disaster and Created International Debate on Nuclear Energy.”
Exhibit (Individual): Third place (alternate for nationals) – Quinn McCarthy for “The Role of World War I in the Creation of a Modern Middle East.”
Documentary (Group): Third place (alternate for nationals) – Charlie Hodulik, Walker Liggitt, Rohit Mandapati, Liam Neild and Kiran Waggoner for “The Reign of Terror.”
Gunduz, Nevezhin and Petrillo said their project examines the Chernobyl disaster in the context of its impact on diplomatic relations and effects on the safety of nuclear energy and the world. Their research features new resources and information that were released around the 35th anniversary of the disaster. In addition to their research and posterboard presentation, they built a 3-foot-long semicircle model of the new safe confinement. The students said they were grateful to their teachers, administrators, the Bronxville community, and Board of Education trustee Jack Bierwirth for their support.