Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students performed very well at this year’s Washington State National History Day (NHD) event. Nineteen LWSD students in eight categories won at the competition held on May 4 at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash.

This year’s NHD theme is “Triumph & Tragedy in History.” Students who finish in first and second place in each category go on to the National contest, held in mid-June at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. Thirty-six LWSD students earned their way to the National event. In addition, 13 LWSD students were special award winners during the competition.

A teacher from International Community School was nominated for the prestigious Hannah E. (Liz) MacGregor Teacher of the Year History Teacher Award. Aleksandra Fraleigh is this year’s senior division nominee from Washington state.

“The feeling was pretty special,” Fraleigh said after finding out about the nomination. “I was very surprised to receive the email.”

Fraleigh will find out if she won during the NHD finals in June. The winner of the award will receive $5,000.

Here are the first and second place finishers from LWSD with the name of the category, the students’ names, school and title of their work:

Junior Group Documentary:

• First Place - Helena Zheng, Akshita Kikkuru and Laya Nair; Evergreen Middle School; “Leni Riefenstahl”
   
• Second Place - Jaysheel Pandya, Dhruv Bansal, Rohan Kurup and Purab Shah; Evergreen Middle School; “Rising from the Ashes: Hiroshima is Reborn”

Senior Group Documentary:

• First Place - Meena Kuduva, Fatimah Shabbir, Sancha Gonzalez and Nuha Qadir; International Community School; “The Children's Crusade of 1963: Chasing a Change”
   
• Second Place - Anusha Srivastava Palestine and Esther Wang; Tesla STEM High School; “Unfulfilled Promise: Emerging Conflicts Between Zionists and Arab Nationalists Shaped by British Policy in Post WWI”

Junior Group Exhibit:

• First Place - Ikshita Sathanur, Kavya Srikumar and Ankhita Sathanur; Evergreen Middle School; “Hitler's Hell for Women: The Rabbits of Ravensbruck”
   
• Second Place - Gauri Raman, Elizabeth Chen and Thanushree Karunagaran; Evergreen Middle School; “The Light at the End of the Tunnel”

Senior Group Performance:

• First Place - Meghna Balakrishnan and Asma Masude; Redmond, WA - East Puget Sound Contest Region; “Si se puede!”

Junior Group Website:

• First Place - Payton Gergen, Cassie Knowlton, Jennifer Lo and Tanvi Bedekar; Redmond Middle School; “Reform From the Ashes: Burning the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Forever Into History”
   
• Second Place - Tanvi Kale, Vaishnavi Sistla, Diya Yaga and Kate Pallett; Redmond Middle School; “Sunset Over the Pacific: Battle of the Philippine Sea”

Senior Group Website:

• Second Place - Kathryn Kotler and Madeleine Goertz; International Community School; “From Siloed to Celebrated: The Tragedy & Triumph Behind Special Olympics”

Senior Individual Documentary:

• First Place - Amrutha Srikanth; Tesla STEM High School; “Behind the Screen: the Rise of Women Animators in Walt Disney's Studios”

Junior Individual Exhibit:

• Second Place - Riya Kalra; Evergreen Middle School; ‘"Destroy Every Closet Door’ - Harvey Milk”

Senior Individual Exhibit:

• First Place - Elizabeth Fu; International Community School; “Stopping a Tragedy in Urban Renewal: The Triumphant Return of the Pike Place Market”

Junior Individual Performance:

• First Place - Sreshta Kalisi; International Community School; “Maya Angelou and the Cabaret for Freedom”

Junior Paper:

• Second Place - Anya Vaish; Kamiakin Middle School; “The Fight for Jhansi: The Tragedy of Rani Lakshmibai's Death and the Triumph of Her Legacy”

Special Award Winners:

Washington State Archives Regional/Local History Award – Jr Division
Meha Shah, Aastha Shah, and Meghna Sekaran
Evergreen Middle School
“Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1889”

Washington State Archives Regional/Local History Award – Sr Division
Elizabeth Fu
International Community School
“Stopping a Tragedy in Urban Renewal: The Triumphant Return of the Pike Place Market”

Chinese or Chinese American History Award – Sr Division
Julia Lee and Nathania Lim
International Community School
“Triumph for Chinatown”

National Maritime Historical Society Award –Jr Division (First Place)
Kelly Lin, Ria Mohan and Anjali Sreenivas
Evergreen Middle School
“Sultana Shipwreck: Where Disaster Brings Unity”

Preservation of Archaeological and Historic Properties in Washington State Award – Sr Division
Julia Lee and Nathania Lim
International Community School
”Triumph for Chinatown”

Lyle L. Nelson Research Award – Sr Division
Andrey Piterkin, Joshua Wentzien, Praveen Weerasundara and Marko Morrison
International Community School
“Operation Halyard: The Triumphant Recovery of Allied Soldiers from Serbia”

Washington State Teen Historian Award
Elizabeth Fu
International Community School
“Stopping a Tragedy in Urban Renewal: The Triumphant Return of the Pike Place Market”