Seventeen LWSD students on their way to nationals for history day competition after virtual state event


Seventeen LWSD students on their way to nationals for history day competition after virtual state event
National History Day logo

Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students performed very well at this year’s Washington State National History Day (NHD) event. Eight LWSD students in three categories won at the competition held virtually because of the Coronavirus on May 2. You can view the full virtual event on YouTube.

This year’s NHD theme is “Breaking Barriers 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. Seventeen LWSD students earned their way to the National event. In addition, 10 LWSD students were special award winners during the competition.

Here is a list of top three finishers from LWSD with the name of the category, the students’ names, school and title of their work. First and second place finishers qualify for the national competition:

Senior Individual Exhibit

  • Second Place - Riya Kalra; Eastlake High School; “Desegregation Busing: Barriers Broken?”

Junior Group Documentary

  • First Place - Anushka Arun and Emily Stuart; Evergreen Middle School; “Protecting the Unprotected: The Story of Margaret Sanger”
  • Second Place - Ashar Ahmad and Parth Parashar; Kamiakin Middle School; “The Search for the Smallpox Vaccine, Breaking Barriers of Disease”

Senior Group Documentary

  • First Place - Cassandra Bull, Andia Kaufman and Zoe Routh; Lake Washington High School; “To Everest and Beyond: The Life and Legacy of Junko Tabei”
  • Second Place - Lauryn Dinh, Anna Paulsell, Sofia Rossi, Emily Sliwinski and Tianhui Zhou; International Community School; “The Harada House: Breaking the Barrier of the 1913 Alien Land Law”

Senior Group Performance

  • First Place - Fredo Guan, Xinyu Mi and Anna Rowell; International Community School; “The Stonewall Riots: How Bricks, Beer, and the Queers Became a Turning Point in LGBTQ+ History”

Junior Paper: 

  • Second Place - Annabella Li; Redmond Middle School; “Towards a Greater Racial Equality: Brown v. Board, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Barrier of Segregation”

Senior Group Website

  • Third Place - Mihir Mishra and Amy Shrivastava; International Community School; “Reaching for the Stars: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s Struggle to Break Social and Scientific Barriers”

Special Award Winners:
E Clampus Vitus Award – Senior Division
Kyler Baumoel, Raphael Collantes, Zach Damm, Yash Srivastava, and Tobin Sudo
International Community School
“The Creation of the Pike Place Market: Shattering Seattle’s Social and Economic Barriers”

Chinese History Merit Award – Senior1
Erica Huynh
Lake Washington High School
“Breaking Barriers: Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989”

Laura B. Gowen Award (Outstanding Junior Division Entry)
Annicka Renganathan
Evergreen Middle School
“Fighting for Home”

William James Bain Jr. Memorial Award (Outstanding Junior Division Entry)
Maanit Goel
Evergreen Middle School

“Digital Moonshot: The Apollo Guidance Computer’s Role in the Digital Revolution”

Senator Mark Mullet Award (Outstanding Senior Division Entry)
Mihir Mishra and Amy Shrivastava
International Community School

“Reaching for the Stars: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s Struggle to Break Social and Scientific Barriers”


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