Hingham High School History Day Contest Showcases Student Achievements
In a display of academic prowess and historical exploration, sixty-five Hingham High School juniors recently participated in the HHS History Day contest. This event, hosted at the esteemed Hingham Historical Society’s Heritage Museum, featured outstanding research projects from the Class of 2025. National History Day (NHD), established in 1974, serves as a platform for over half a million middle- and high-school students worldwide to delve into original research aligned with a yearly theme. This year’s theme, “Turning Points in History,” spurred students to delve deep into pivotal moments of the past.
The competition journey begins at the school level, with high schools across Massachusetts preparing to send their top projects to the regional contest on March 2nd. The ultimate goal for these budding historians is to advance to the national contest held at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Excitement filled the air at the Hingham Heritage Museum as students eagerly presented their projects to a panel of volunteer judges from the Hingham Historical Society. Deirdre Anderson, Executive Director of the Hingham Historical Society, and Andy Hoey, HPS K-12 Director of Social Studies, commended the 65 participating students for their dedication to scholarly pursuits. Special recognition was also extended to the teachers who mentored the students throughout the research process: Ms. Molly Baggott, Mr. Patrick Doerr, Ms. Kathleen Dwyer, Ms. Christina O’Connor, Ms. Susan Petrie, and Ms. Jamie Zelenka.
Thirty-three students emerged as frontrunners, earning the opportunity to compete at the Foxborough Regional History Day contest with a chance to progress to state and national levels.
Outstanding Projects and Achievements:
Paper Category:
- First Place: Tala Sanford – “The Rosies of Hingham Shipyard: Welding Women’s Way Forward”
- Second Place: Nina Murphy – “Silent Spring: The Pivot Point for the Environmental Movement”
- Third Place: Cab Amidei – “Getting into the (Twilight) Zone: How Rod Serling’s Battle with Censorship Transformed American Television”
- Fourth Place: Julia Scipione – “The Seneca Falls Convention: The Start of a Bitter Struggle to Gender Equality”
- Fifth Place: Audrey Walker – “The Pure Food and Drug Act: How Public Advocacy Transformed Food and Drug Regulation in America”
Individual Documentary Category:
- First Place: Ava Green – “Making Peace with Nature”
- Second Place: Alexander Dinardi – “Immigration During the California Gold Rush”
- Third Place: Lily Dong – “‘There’s Blood On Those Grapes!’: How the Delano Grape Strike Revolutionized the American Farm Labor Movement”
Group Documentary Category:
- First Place: Claire Farrington & Neely Sgobbo – “From the Ashes of a Nightclub: The Cocoanut Grove Fire”
- Second Place: Ryan Burns & Declan Kelley – “Ryan White’s Journey Shaping the AIDS Narrative”
- Third Place: Drew Golden & Adam Healey – “The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”