Record-breaking Achievements of Chicago Area Scholars at
National History Day Competition

Chicagoans proud of their city's rich history have a new reason to celebrate - the city's political, cultural, labor, and social history took center stage last week when several Illinois students earned top honors at the National History Day competition in College Park, Maryland.

After months of research and work on their projects and several levels of local and state History Fair competition, 50 grade 6-12 students advanced to the national competition. More than half of these students qualified for the coveted final round of competition at nationals or earned special prizes from a pool of 700,000 who participate in the program at the classroom level nationwide (20,000 in the Chicago area alone).

A record ten Illinois projects from 22 students qualified for the national finals in their respective categories, placing the state among the top five in overall national performance. In addition, two projects earned prestigious special prizes.

 Top honors included a $5,000 prize from the History Channel for four Lincoln Park High School students who created a documentary on the fight to save Maxwell Street and a $500 2 nd place prize for a Stevenson High School student's paper on the legal battles to end segregation in public housing.

Finalists and special prize winners include the following:

• Rahul Gorawara, 2nd place in Senior Papers, from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire for "Gautreaux vs. the Chicago Housing Authority." Gorawara's teacher is Chris Salituro. His paper analyzes the impact of Dorothy Gautreaux and the legal battles against segregation in public housing.
  

• Brian Lis, Adrian Mikocewicz, Chris Ciszynski, and Jonathan Taub won the History Channel's Outstanding Senior Entry Tied to a Historic Site for their Senior Group Documentary "Maxwell Street Market: Taking a Stand for Preservation." The students attend Lincoln Park High School . The prize carries with it a $5,000 cash award. The documentary tells the story of Maxwell Street 's development, its cultural meaning to Chicagoans, and the unsuccessful fight to preserve it.

• Chelsea Farme, 9th place in Junior Papers, from Ogden Elementary School in Chicago for "Architectural Preservation Pioneer." Farmer's teacher is Eric Calderon. Her paper highlights Richard Nickel's battles to document and preserve Chicago 's architectural treasures, in particular the buildings of Louis Sullivan.

• Keli Walsh, 4th place in Junior Individual Documentaries, from St. Luke Academy in Chicago for "Standing Up for Chicago ." Walsh's teacher is Laura Abrahamson. "Standing Up for Chicago " also won Outstanding Junior Division State Entry from Illinois . Walsh's documentary focuses on Chicago 's battle to win the World's Fair.

• Peter Contos, 12th place in Junior Individual Exhibits, from Polymath Academy Home School in Chicago for "Standing Against Stereotype: The Liberation of Aunt Jemima." Contos' teacher is Leslie Contos. His exhibit shows the changes over time in the image of Aunt Jemima and interprets the meaning of those images as a reflection of a changing culture and shifting attitudes toward race.

• Abigael Morris, Madeline Piller, Isaac Piller, Stevie Croisant, and Haley Sack , 5th place in Junior Group Performance, from Northbrook School in Mendota for "Radium Girls." The students' teacher is Susan Sack. "Radium Girls" tells the tragedy of the young women who used toxic materials to paint the faces of watches at the Radium Dial Company in the early 1900s and the fight for workplace protections after many young women became ill or died from the effects of radium.

• Abigael Morris, Madeline Piller, Isaac Piller, Stevie Croisant, and Haley Sack , 5th place in Junior Group Performance, from Northbrook School in Mendota for "Radium Girls." The students' teacher is Susan Sack. "Radium Girls" tells the tragedy of the young women who used toxic materials to paint the faces of watches at the Radium Dial Company in the early 1900s and the fight for workplace protections after many young women became ill or died from the effects of radium.

• Rachael Brown and Deen Rosenberg, 14th place in Junior Group Performance, from Ogden Elementary School in Chicago for "The Jewish Labor Committee." The students' teacher is Eric Calderon.

• Agnes Mazur, Callie McCune, and Mona Ghadiri, 7 th place in Senior Group Documentary, from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire for "Carrying the Burden: The Story of Clyde Kennard." The students' teacher is Barry Bradford . "Carrying the Burden," which tells the story of civil rights pioneer Clyde Kennard who was unjustly imprisoned in retaliation for his efforts to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi , also won the Outstanding Senior Division State Entry from Illinois .

• Gian Santos, 5th place in Senior Individual Exhibit, an independent scholar from Oak Forest for "Justice through Science: Kameny's Pioneering Defense of Homosexuality." Santos ' project shows the impact of Frank Kameny and his role in getting the American Psychiatric Association to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

• Montana Young and Ivan Favelevic, 13th place in Senior Group Exhibits, from Lincoln Park High School in Chicago for "Blacks in the White City : Taking a Stand at the Fair." The students' teachers are A. Ahmad and Jennifer Johnson. The exhibit illustrates how black Americans attempted to be a voice in the planning, construction, and presentation of the 1893 World's Fair.
  

• Felipe Rodriguez, Eliseo Martinez, Aracely Gutierrez, Sarah Peara, and Aracelli Gonzales, 11th place in Senior Group Performances, from East Aurora High School in Aurora for "Refugio Martinez: Taking a Stand in the Packinghouse Industry." The students' teacher is Cathy Bednar. The performance tells the story of labor union organizer Refugio Martinez, his efforts to secure better conditions for workers in Chicago 's packinghouses in a time of fears of communism, and his controversial deportation trial.

• Omar Mesina from Orozco Academy won the Jamestown Award for his Junior Individual Documentary "CORE." Mesina receives an expenses-paid trip to the 400 th anniversary celebration in Jamestown , Virginia , for his documentary about the Chicago-founded civil rights organization Congress of Racial Equality.

Photos and comments from the Illinois delegation's National History Day experience are available on our blog at: http://chicagometrohistoryfair.blogspot.com/

CONGRATULATIONS ALL MEMBERS OF THE NHD 2006!