Forty-seven students from CCSD’s four middle schools and Cedar Shoals High School combined to win 32 awards — including seven top overall awards — in the Northeast Georgia regional National History Day Contest at the University of Georgia on Saturday, Feb. 8, and qualified to advance to the upcoming state competition.

National History Day is a nationwide non-profit organization that operates an annual contest designed to engage students and enhance their research, literacy, and critical thinking skills through the discipline of history with a working theme. The 2025 theme was “Rights and Responsibilities in History.” As part of the contest, students select a topic, decide whether to work individually or in a group, conduct research, analyze their findings, develop a thesis, and submit an entry in one of five categories – historical paper, website, documentary, exhibit, or performance. Students then present their project and defend their thesis before a panel of judges. 

All regional medalists and state qualifiers from CCSD are listed below by category and division (“Junior” for middle school students and “Senior” for high school students). The state contest will be held April 26 at LaGrange College. 

Documentary Junior Group

• 1^st Place – Lazlo Ingmundson, Grey Register, and Zeke Wolfe, Hilsman Middle – “What Did Alice Paul Do for the Women’s Rights Movement?”

• 3^rd Place – Luna Alvarez and Shenandoah Viores, Hilsman Middle – “Interracial Marriage”

Documentary Junior Individual

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Junior Documentary – John Reese, Hilsman Middle – “Defection: Major League Baseball Human Rights Dilemma”

• 2^nd Place – Isaac Wise, Hilsman Middle – “The Right to Education”

Documentary Senior Group

• 2^nd Place – Sa-ida Arnold, Savannah Rawls, and Caitlin Smith, Cedar Shoals High – “Above the Arch”

Exhibit Junior Group

• 1^st Place – Amy Pinto-Alvear, Maya Pringle, and Kamryn Young, Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle – “A Step Closer to Jewish Equality in Georgia”

• 2^nd Place – Wilson Carmichael, Jonah Johnson, and Sid Tesler, Clarke Middle – “Linnentown”

• 3^rd Place – Lucy Barkan and Auria Powers, Clarke Middle – “Our Body, Our Right”

Exhibit Junior Individual

• 1st Place and Best Overall Exhibit – Braxton Price, Hilsman Middle – “Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921: A Human Rights Tragedy”

• 2^nd Place – Jasmine Newsome, BHL Middle – “Brown vs. Board of Education”

• 3^rd Place – Emerith Cruz, Hilsman Middle – “The Right to Try Dictators for War Crimes”

Exhibit Senior Individual

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Senior Exhibit – Kenia Gonzalez-Chavez, Cedar Shoals High – “Separated from Home: Repatriation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression”

Performance Junior Group

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Junior Performance – Emerson DeDufour, Jolie Garrett, Courtney Muench, and Claire Salter, Hilsman Middle – “Vietnam War Nurse’s Right to Free Mental Health”

• 2^nd Place – Hannah Adcox, Nora Cooper, Caitlin Davis, Aurelia DeWald, and Gabriela Farnham, Hilsman Middle – “Stand Up for Yourself: Throw Tea into the Harbor”

• 3^rd Place – Evelyn Broome, Natalie Guzman, Nicole Meile, and Solomon Smith, Hilsman Middle – “The Life of the Female Activist, Elizabeth Smith Miller”

Paper Junior Individual

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Junior Paper – Olivia Trimble, Clarke Middle – “The Ratification of the 19^th Amendment: The Fight for the Future”

• 2nd Place – Alaya Allen, Hilsman Middle – “Ancient Egypt Compared to Athenian Black Cemeteries”

• 3^rd Place – Arden Dennison, Hilsman Middle – “The Virgin Queen and Women Rulers”

Paper Senior Individual

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Senior Paper – Elijah Stone, Cedar Shoals High – “School Lunch: The Passion and Politics Behind American Nutrition”

• 2^nd Place – Kitty Dennison, Cedar Shoals – “The Decline of Mental Health Facilities and the Rise of Prisons”

Website Junior Group

• 1^st Place – Joshua James, Jackson Rushing, and Tiger Tabb, BHL Middle – “Tuskegee Airmen”

• 2^nd Place – Nicholas Bergman, Alexander McQueen, Shepard Bramlett, Clarke Middle – “The Rights and Responsibilities of the Caste System”

• 3^rd Place – Everlyn Baca and Sofia Ramirez, Coile Middle – “Women Suffragettes”

Website Junior Individual

• 1^st Place and Best Overall Junior Website – Charlie Crawford, BHL Middle – “The Osage Murders”

• 2^nd Place – Zeph Benitez Gay, Clarke Middle – “A Fight for Land Liberty”

• 3^rd Place – Gabriel Marcos-Ventura, Coile Middle – “September 11, 2001 Attacks: A Turning Point for America”

Supporting Educators from CCSD

• From BHL: Cheryl Hudson, Justin McCalla, Chelsea Mack, and Lindsey Rogers

• From Coile: Erica Gaines and Jasmine Curry

• From Clarke Middle: Mollie Schubach, Sasha Baker, Shawn Hinger, Derrick Maxwell, Chris Woodward, Chrstopher Schell, and Sean Simpson

• From Hilsman: Katie Baker Johnson, Riley Hefner, Meganne Skinner, Joshua Truitt, Tyshaney Mungin, and Maxine Dalton

• From Cedar Shoals: Beth Mendenhall.