Published on Thu., April 11, 2024

Three students wearing VA History Day 1st place medals

Thirty-four Lynchburg City Schools (LCS) students will advance to the Virginia History Day (VHD) state contest in Richmond on Saturday, April 27-28 after coming out on top at the regional competition on March 23. The division’s representation at the state contest will increase more than threefold this year from the nine LCS students who competed in 2023.

Each of these students spent months researching historical topics of interest and presenting their findings using creative approaches and various forms of media. This year’s theme is “Turning Points in History.”

The following students placed first, second, or third in the District One competition. They will advance to the state contest.

E. C. Glass High School
  • Vada Miller: 1st place, Individual Website. Topic: 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
  • Raquelle Marshall: 3rd place, Individual Website. Topic: Birmingham Childrens' Crusade of 1963
Heritage High School
  • Kaia Williams: 2nd place, Individual Website. Topic: The Road to Equity
Linkhorne Middle School
  • Divina Matthew, Weston Yeoman, Worth Sigler, and Zachery Bauer: 2nd place, Group Documentary. Topic: Freedom is Not Free
  • Allure Robinson, Amina Burford, and Paisley Scott: 1st place, Group Exhibit. Topic: Henrietta Lacks - A Medical Turning Point
  • James Flavin: 2nd place, Group Exhibit. Topic: Exploding into the History Books: The Impact of Dynamite
  • Elise Grant, Ruth Reed, and Ryzon Vasquez: 3rd place, Group Exhibit. Topic: The Oklahoma City Bombing
  • Gunar Ferguson: 3rd place, Individual Website. Topic: The Compromise of 1877 Jim Crow
Dunbar Middle School
  • Benson Kee and Brennan Porter: 1st place, Group Documentary. Topic: The Frontlines: A Documentary of the Great War
  • Hannah Proebsting and Lucy Pollard: 3rd place, Group Documentary. Topic: Rosie the Riveters: World War II's Turning Points in History
  • Asher Foster and Molissa Gibson: 3rd place, Group Exhibit. Topic: D-Day, 1944
R. S. Payne Elementary School
  • Eliza Millard-Raines: 1st place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Eve Flavin: 2nd place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: The Choctaw Tribe and The Irish Potato Famine
  • Ian Frye: 3rd place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: The Atom Bomb
  • Hannah Khan and Magnolia Chisolm: 1st place, Group Exhibit, Topic: Women Win the Right to Vote in America
  • Henry Foster, Jaxon Stickle, and Levi Mancier: 2nd place, Group Exhibit. Topic: The Siege of Yorktown
T. C. Miller Elementary School
  • Caroline Pollard, Earlene Ekoh, James Proebsting, Laylah Wilson, and Levi Runnels: 3rd place, Group Exhibit. Topic: Patrick Henry

State winners at the middle and high school levels will have the opportunity to compete in the national competition in Maryland in June. This year marks the 50th annual National History Day contest.

Students from Sandusky Middle School and Dearington and Perrymont elementary schools also competed at the regional level. In total, students from nine LCS schools competed in the regional competition after outranking their peers at the school level.

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