Sam Cooke didn’t know much about history.
Staples High School students do. And a high-powered panel of experts is singing their praises.
But they didn’t just win. One of the contest judges expressed amazement at the “quality of thought” from the Staples participants.
And a professor from Arizona State University — an awed observer — said,”I wish my university seniors could display the insight these high school sophomores exhibited in their presentations.”
Many Westporters don’t know that PT Barnum was a very effective mayor of Bridgeport. Staples sophomores do.
Students could choose any historical topic: local, national, even world.
Projects included the gun industry in Connecticut, child labor laws, the achievement gap, PT Barnum’s effect on Bridgeport, the Jewish history of Waterbury, the Interstate Highway Act and the Radium Girls.
Congratulations to Staples’ outstanding history students:
1st place: Sarah Benjamin, Jillian Kleiner, Madison Jarvis, Rebecca Oestreicher, Kyle Ratner, Nick Ribolla, Maddy Fodor, Angela Yu, Arjun Dhindsa.
2nd place: Jane Schutte, Miranda Saunders, Jon Dedomenico, Katherine Hertan, Ruth Kissel, Emma Finn, Talia Hendel, Aaron Samuels, George Menz, Jackson Daines, Raymond Chien, Simon Ginsberg.
3rd place: Emma Lederer, Caroline Suppan, Ben Goldstein, Eliana Aronson, Jennifer Martin, Susan Zec, Anna Eichhorn, Doug Raigosa, Georgia Fox.
(History Day in Connecticut’s regional contest was co-sponsored by Fairfield University’s Department of History, and the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions. All students listed above advance to the state History Day Contest on April 26, at Central Connecticut State University.)
If your browser does not take you directly to YouTube, click here.