LWSD students, teacher leave their mark at National History Day state competition

Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students performed very well at this year’s Washington State National History Day (NHD) event. Eight LWSD students in eight categories won at the competition held on April 26 at Lake Washington High School.

This year’s NHD theme is “Rights & Responsibilities in History.” Students who finish in first or second place in each category go on to the National contest, held June 8-12 at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Eighteen LWSD students earned their way to the National event. In addition, 14 LWSD students were special award winners during the competition.

On the team level, Evergreen Middle School was named as one of the Washington History Day State Contest Outstanding Schools – junior level.

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:

Senior Group Exhibit:

• Second Place - Jonah Kim, Geethika Burugupally, Shivali Panda and Leanna Dsouza; Lake Washington High School; “’Let Me Die’: The Debate Over Assisted Dying”

Junior Individual Documentary:

• Second Place - Ziqi Liu; Evergreen Middle School; “Native American Boarding Schools”

Junior Group Documentary:

• First Place - Hui Xiong, Ada Anderson and Yufei Ye; Evergreen Middle School; “The Cost of Silence: The Espionage Act of 1917”
• Second Place - Aarav Shah, Shashank Seela and Eddy Wang; Evergreen Middle School; “The Scottsboro Boys Case: A Fight for a Fair Trial”
• Junior Group Performance:
• Second Place - Smriti Sudarshan and Adya Kidambi; Evergreen Middle School; “Education or Erasure”

Senior Individual Performance:

• Second Place - Shoshanna Ryan; Emerson K-12; “Rights and Responsibilities in the New Deal Era”

Junior Group Website:

• First Place - Sophia Li and Satvika Kannappan; Evergreen Middle School; “A Promise on Paper: The UN and the Creation of Israel”

Senior Individual Website:

• First Place - Anya Guhan; Redmond High School; “My Way IS the Highway: The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956”

Senior Group Website:

• First Place - Ayaan Yadav and Neev Ansel; Lake Washington School; “From Rebellion to Repression: The Stono Rebellion and Negro Act of 1740”

Special Award Winners by category, name and title of project:

• Chinese or Chinese-American History Award Senior Division, Ila Lu, Eastlake High School, “The Wild Lily Student Movement: A Bloom in Taiwan’s Democracy”
   
• Eva Alvarez Memorial Award, Ellie Zhao, Redmond Middle School, “The Art of Injustice: Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon”
   
• National Maritime Historical Society Award – Junior Division, First Place, Nick Tsai, Michael Xie and Jeremy Zhang, Evergreen Middle School, "One Misstep Away: The Cuban Missile Crisis”
   
• National Maritime Historical Society Award – Senior Division, First Place, Yue Xia, Eastlake High School, “The Story of Desmond Doss: From the Fires of War to the Hands of Valor”
   
• Frances Anderson Backus Award, Inchara Aradhya, Kaya Khare and Aishwarya Sreenivas, Evergreen Middle School, “The Relf Sisters: The X That Stole Their Future”
   
• Nancy Anderson Daly Award, Lakshana Balakrishnan and Shriya Manni, Evergreen Middle School. “Lighting the Way: The 1888 London Matchgirls’ Strike”
   
• Representative Ruth Kagi Award, Anya Guhan, Redmond High School, “My Way IS the Highway: The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956”
   
• Katherine Roberts Merrifield Award, Daniel Quadros, Kamiakin Middle School, “Labor Laws: The Fight for Rights and Responsibilities in Industry”
   
• Katherine Roberts Merrifield Award, Jamie Zhu, Evergreen Middle School, “Gerrymandering in Shaw v. Reno: Examining Redistricting Rights and Responsibilities of the Government in Upholding Fair Voter Representation”
   
• 2025 Washington History Day State Contest Outstanding Schools, WHD Outstanding School – Junior Division, Evergreen Middle School, Advisors: Nicole Kesler and Susan Jackson