Mavs Sweep National History Day for 3rd year in a row

Montrose students win national honors after continuing to dominate the state-level National History Day competition.
Spandana Vagwala '22 won third place in the country for her website at the National History Day awards ceremony, while Kasey Corra '22 won an award for outstanding Massachusetts entry for her paper, placing in the top ten in the nation. 

Earlier this year, Kasey and Spandana won top honors in Massachusetts for their projects in order to advance to nationals. Among the other Maverick highlights:
  • 9 sophomores and 5 freshmen from Montrose advanced to the state competition.
  • Of the 12 individual research papers selected for state competition, 4 were by Montrose students.
  • Of the 18 students who advanced to states in the group website category, 6 were Montrose students.
  • In addition to Kasey and Spandana, 4 other Montrose students won special awards at the state competition.
  • Montrose has sent students to the nationals in 3 of the last 4 years.
Each year over half a million students participate in the National History Day contest, sponsored by National History Day, a non-profit education organization based in College Park, Maryland. Students take part in regional and state competitions to earn a spot in the national competition, held annually in Washington, D.C. 

This year’s NHD competition theme is “breaking barriers.” Kasey earned first place in the state for her research paper,Dignity in Silence: A Benedictine Monk’s Breakthrough in Deaf Education. Spandana won second place in Massachusetts for her website project, Drawing for Suffrage: Political Imagery in the Fight for Enfranchising Women in Britain.  This is Spandana’s second experience advancing to the finals, having earned a place in the national competition last year as well. 

Both winning entries reflected the students’ sharp research focus and attention to detail. 

“I came across the political artwork and propaganda that was used in the movement, and I thought art and history would be a really cool combination,” Spandana shared, adding that she made sweeping edits and changes to her submission up until the very last minute. 

For Kasey, inspiration came from reviewing the National Geographic website. She knew little about deaf history before that initial perusal, and worried the topic was too narrow to find research to support it, but once she began digging, she found a world of information.

“People have devoted their whole lives to looking at the way deaf history has progressed through the years, and that was incredible. I was really encouraged by that,” she said.

Several other Mavericks earned state-level recognition for their outstanding work. Emma Barry ‘22 won first Honorable Mention for her paper, Echoing From Every Side and Corner: The White Rose Resistance Movement in Nazi GermanyBella Convery ‘22Faith Chen ‘22 and Kate Pioch ‘22 won “Best Project in Maritime history” for their project “Breaking Barriers With Bombs: Alan Turing's War Contributions."
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