Seven Madison Country Day School students are advancing to the National History Day national competition next month, in one of the strongest showings in school history.
Each year, 18 Wisconsin high school students advance to nationals from the state competition. This year, at the June 14-18 event in College Park, Md., more than a third of those spots belong to MCDS.
Prince ’28, Jackson ’28, Stephen ’28 and Jeremiah ’28 worked together as a group to earn their spot at nationals with a documentary titled “After the Smoke Cleared: Muslim American Communities After 9/11,” which examined how Muslim American communities were perceived in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Prince said the group worked through “a lot of different sources,” adding that the difficulty made the project more fulfilling. “The history was hidden but worth finding.”
Jeremiah credited the team itself: “Having a great team and having fun is the key.”
Stephen added that the research took on a momentum of its own. “Once we started researching, we didn’t want to stop.”
Dhyana ’28, a returning National History Day competitor, advanced with her individual documentary “The Cold War En Pointe,” which explored the role of American ballet in Cold War diplomacy. She chose the documentary format deliberately.
“It allows me to incorporate many forms of visual elements into my project,” she said.
Her advice to future competitors: “Choose a topic that you’re passionate about, but also set a plan ahead of time, so you’re not cramming it all at the last minute.”
Ranvir ’28 qualified with a research paper on the global influence of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. “Writing this helped me realize how important one court case can be,” he said.
Ruby ’28 advanced as a second alternate in the Senior Individual Documentary category. She said the competition was educational beyond her own project.
“My favorite part was watching everyone else’s documentaries and learning about topics I didn’t know much about before,” she said.
Meghan ’28 and Tanager ’29 both competed at the state level.
Meghan called the National History Day event “a great way to explore how to research and get very invested in a topic that you don’t know a lot about.”
Tanager, the only MCDS freshman at state this year, offered a more succinct review: “It’s a cool project, and you get pizza.”
Also competing at the state level were Oliver ’29 and Michael ’29 with their documentary, Rowan ’29 with his documentary and Sydney ’29 with her paper.
