Students from Starkville, Hernando, Jackson, Pascagoula, and the Mississippi School for Math and Science competed in the 2023 National History Day (NHD) contest, a program for middle and high school students to research, produce, and present a historical research project. Winners from the state competition, sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), represented the state at the University of Maryland, host of the national event.
Two groups of students received special attention from the Smithsonian Institution. Hernando High School’s Eliza Sims, Annie Burford, and Emily Zamarron had their exhibit, The Mother of Modern Medicine, featured at the National Museum of American History. Their exhibit was one of only forty-eight selected. Tougaloo Early College High School’s Jermarius Everett, Grace Short, and Kiersten Burk had their documentary, Masterminds Behind the Movement: How Tougaloo College Advances Civil Rights in Mississippi, shown at the National Museum for African American History and Culture. Only seventeen documentaries received this honor, and this is only the second time a Mississippi project has been selected for this showcase.
This documentary was also awarded the Outstanding Senior Project from Mississippi at the 2023 award ceremony. Armstrong Middle School’s Brendan Sao, Ian Jung, and Theo Ahn won the Outstanding Junior Project for their website, Smallpox Vaccine: The Start of an Era. Also at the awards ceremony, MSMS student Heaven Alvarado won the Equality in History Award, sponsored by Celie and Tabitha Niehaus. The award is for projects that “illuminate the history of human equality, especially with respect to the role that individuals and/or organizations have played in the efforts for isolated groups.” This project is the first from Mississippi that has won a special award at the national contest in over a decade.
“What our Mississippi students were able to accomplish this year was incredible,” said Al Wheat, director of education at MDAH. “We won our first special prize in well over a decade, had two groups featured in Smithsonian museums, and displayed some truly incredible research and projects to judges and spectators from around the globe. Mississippi History Day is headed in a great direction as we continue to recruit schools across the state, building on these great examples of success.”
