Middle School Student Earns Third Place in Pittsburgh National History Day Competition

The competition, hosted locally by the Heinz History Center and overseen by the NHD offices in College Park, Maryland, brings together middle and high school students from around the globe to research historical topics centered on an annual theme, this year’s being “Breaking Barriers in History.” Students had the opportunity to explore the issue and present their findings in five categories – documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website.

Rayna’s website project, "The Internet: Breaking Barriers and Connecting People through a Virtual World," was a very timely topic due to current social distancing recommendations to help stop the spread of COVID-19, requiring people to work and connect virtually.

“My project for National History Day was the internet. It was mainly about how the internet broke barriers and connected people through a virtual world,” she explained. Initially, she said she struggled to come up with a topic and was inspired by something she saw in the news. “One day, I was scrolling through the news, and it was about how our phones could do more than the spaceship that landed on the moon. That is what started my train of thought.” Her thinking paid off. She spent several months preparing for the competition with the majority spent on research for her site.

For Rayna, the most challenging aspect of the project was trying to find interviews and understanding how the World Wide Web works with the internet. Her favorite part was constructing and designing the website.

She learned about NHD through her Middle School social studies teacher Kate Lukaszewicz. "All of our NHD competitors show resilience throughout the execution of their research and projects; students who competed in the website category faced the additional challenge of navigating a new website-builder that lacked the intuitive bells and whistles of the last iteration. All the same, Rayna knew that a website was the best way to present her argument about the value of the internet, so she persisted, with great results," said Ms. Lukaszewicz. "National History Day is among my favorite parts of teaching. Students self-select topics and formats of interest, then their curiosity and skills carry them through the year. It's awesome to see them engage in such vigorous work, especially considering their other academic and extracurricular activities." Four Grade 7 and 8 students – Avni Kathju, Jaydon Kurian, Lia Frazzini, and Layla Lombardo – also competed in this year’s NHD contest.

Rayna advanced to the state competition that will be held virtually on May 15 and 16. When she was told that she won third place she said, “I was thrilled and could not wait to keep working on my website.”

Congratulations and good luck in states, Rayna!