National History Day 2023 Gets Underway at South City High

The National History Day competition is underway at South San Francisco High School.

 

The academic contest is a mainstay at South City High, which tends to do very well annually. 

 

Last year, South City High juniors Charity Fan and Zoe Kwong ('23) placed first at the state level in the group documentary category of California’s National History Day contest on May 7, 2022, for their project on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

 

For National History Day, students conduct research on a historical topic and decide how to present their project in one of several formats:

• Research paper (individual)
• Exhibit (individual or group)
• Website (individual or group)
• Performance (individual or group)
• Documentary (individual or group)

 

Afterwards, students present their projects at school, and judges determine which ones will move on to the county level by using a rubric that assesses research, historical accuracy, argument, and project execution. 

 

  

Winners at the county level advance to the state level in Sacramento.

 

The top two entries in each category in Sacramento advance to nationals, which typically take place in the Washington, DC area.

 

This year, the students in the following categories advanced to the state level:

 

Meanwhile, the following students reached the earlier county level in the following categories:

 

• Mariano Gonzalez: "The Trinity Test: Crossing Frontiers Into the Nuclear Age" (finalist)
• Cassy Orobio: "NASA: Breaking the Frontier of Space Exploration" (finalist)
• Julius Tumaliuan: "Quantum Physics" (finalist)

• Sabrina Aquino, Angeline Gloria, and Josephine Harsana: "Brothers Grimm" (finalist)
• Samantha Pinto and Jernee Evangelista: “Turn Your kid-neys into adult-neys: The first organ transplantation” (finalist)
• Abril Martinez, Esmeralda Solano, Stephanie Navarrete, and Giana Barbosa: "Hydraulics Unfolded" (honorable mention)

• Sophia Buban: "Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine" (finalist)
• James Quingua: "Triphibian Wars" (finalist)
• Izabella Hidalgo: "Anesthesia" (finalist)
• Joseph Castro: "Marshall Plan" (honorable mention)

• Lauren Fong, Alyssa Jose, Akansha Kumar, and Victor Lopez: "From Mines of Gold to State of Gold" (finalist)
• Wesley Tan and Jonathan Kam: "Sun Tzu: The Art of War: Expanding Frontiers of Strategy and Success" (finalist)   
• Ellaiza Bucago, Justin Gomez: "Coding the World: The Internet" (finalist)
• Renee Chu, Jollyn Gunardi, and Charlene Ho: "Live Aid: Aid for the Hungry" (honorable mention)
• Rachell Hernandez Cid, Karla Majano, and Carlo Diaz: "Che Guevara" (honorable mention)        

• Kieon Miller, Gabriel Espino, and Sanjeet Singh: "N.W.A.: Breaking the Limits of Rap" (finalist)
• Adrianne Steven See, Shayla Lam, and Sophia Athanasiou: "Tamper Evident Packaging: A Frontier No One's Gonna Miss" (finalist)
• Alex Christie and Jellian Lasmana: "Transvestia" (finalist)

• Malia Choy: "Bruce Lee: Bridging Cultures Through a Life of Nonconformity" (finalist)
• Enoch Fan: "The Invention of the MRI: A Frontier In Medicine" (finalist)        

• Austin Liu, Aden Sallaberry, Owen Kieth, and Joncarlo Estrada: The Firebombings of Japan: A Frontier in Civilian Targeted Warfare" (finalist)
• Alyssa Batang, Audrina Lopez, and Kylie Situ: The Volksempfänger: Its Intrusion of German Minds" (finalist)
• Zara Najmi, Indira Sergio, and Tiffany Tat: "Columbine: A Call to Action" (finalist)        

• Erica Songco, Reuel Pallera, and Aleczia Trinidad: "The Protestant Reformation: A Musical Experience" (finalist)