Many young history buffs from Redmond were award winners at the Washington History Day state competition, held at Bellevue College earlier this month.
The top two winners in each category will advance to the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland, June 13-17.
Redmond student results are:
• Nathan Maris from the Lake Washington School District’s International Community School, first place, Senior Individual Documentary, “Blood Plasma: Dr. Charles Drew’s Innovation and Its Impact on Trauma Medicine.”
• Redmond High School (RHS) students Anand Raghuraman, Tian Kisch and Raluca Ifrim, first place, Senior Group Documentary and also Chinese/Chinese-American History Award, “The Transcontinental Railroad: Uniting the States of America.”
Other Washington History Day winners from Redmond include:
• Sunrise Elementary (a Northshore School District building located in Redmond) students Kaylee Holleman and Claire Miller, third place, Junior Group Exhibit and also Animal Welfare Award, “The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: 145 Years of Compassion.”
• Redmond Junior High (RJH) student Jonathan Qu, third place, Junior Historical Paper, “The Germ Theory of Disease.”
• Sunrise student Joshua Ervin, third place, Junior Web Site, “Satellites: Revolutionizing Communication by Linking the World.”
• RJH student Meghana Noonavath, fourth place, Junior Individual Exhibit and also Women’s History Award, “The Women’s Suffrage Movement in the U.S.: Foundation of Equality.”
• RHS students Tara Balakrishnan, Maya Balakrishnan, Edward Zhang and Sarah Du, fourth place, Senior Group Documentary and also Burke Museum Natural History and Culture Award, “Our Land: Preserving the American Wilderness.”
• Sunrise student Erin Lee, fifth place, Junior Individual Exhibit, “The Green Revolution: Saving Lives, But At What Cost?”
• RJH students Karen Ai and Elaine Wang, fifth place, Junior Group Exhibit, “Building Social Norms and Stability.”
• Sunrise student Jonathan Aiken, fifth place, Junior Web Site, “Radar: The Silent Detector.”
• RJH student Alyssa Foster, sixth place, Junior Individual Performance and also British/Irish History Award, “The Ancient Dr. Seuss: Shakespeare’s Influence on the English Language.”
• RJH students Anton De Leon, Zack Packer, Hannah Parish and Nikki Sharma, sixth place, Junior Group Performance, “Magna Carta: Charter for Change.”
This was the first year that the Washington History Day contest was held locally, at Bellevue College “and our feedback shows that it was the most successful yet,” said Lauren Danner of the Washington State Historical Society in Olympia.
“The site and the staff there are excellent — we plan to be there again next year,” Danner noted.
To learn more about National History Day, visit http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/
