Howard County Students Excel at National History Day Competition

July 6th, 2015

Six Howard County Public School System students were honored as finalists at the 2015 Kenneth E. Behring National History Day. This year’s competition was held at the University of Maryland, College Park from June 14 to 18, 2015.

After placing first or second at the statewide Maryland History Day competition in May, nine HCPSS students were eligible to participate in the national competition. These students previously won competitions at their school and county level, and were competing against hundreds of students from school systems across the country.

Students presented entries in five categories: exhibit, performance, multimedia documentary, research paper and website.

For more information on National History Day, visit www.nationalhistoryday.org.

Howard County 2015 National History Day Finalists:

Rakshita Balaji of Mayfield Woods Middle School was a finalist in the Junior Individual Performance category for “The Leadership and Legacy of America’s National Anthem and Flag.”

Centennial High School’s Cecilia Hsu was a finalist in the Senior Paper category for “George Eastman: Establishing the Camera as the American Documenter.”

In the Senior Individual Documentary Student category, Matthew Blum from Howard High School was a finalist for “Smallpox Eradication: The End of a Disease and the Beginning of a New Era in Public Health.”

Molly Bingham from Marriotts Ridge High School was honored in the Senior Individual Documentary category for “William Wilberforce: A Force for Change.”

Long Reach High School students Zion Hadley and Megha Sharma were finalists for “Harriet Tubman: Conducting the Fight for Freedom in Maryland” in the Senior Group Performance category.