Stillwater and Morrison students win multiple awards at Oklahoma National History competition

Yahoo

05-06-2025

Among the dozens of Oklahoma students who won awards at the Oklahoma National History Day in May, Stillwater Public Schools and Morrison Public Schools students stood out.
Held at the Oklahoma History Center, the competition split students into two categories – sixth-eighth grades and ninth-12th grades. Students qualified for the state competition by winning one of seven regional competitions across Oklahoma, according to a press release by the Oklahoma History Center Museum and the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Stillwater Junior High student Leena Atiyeh placed first for her paper titled 'The Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948: How the Palestinians Lost Their Lives, Land, and Rights,' and Stillwater junior Abigail Norwood won second place in the same category for 'The Boston Massacre: The Colonial Responsibility to Fight Against the Infringement of Rights.'
Stillwater Junior High student Sara Roberts placed third for her individual exhibit titled 'Braille, A Revolutionary Touch to History.'
Morrison Junior High students Lexi Kruse, Daydree Horne, Olivia Ross and Levi Brixey won first place for their group performance, 'The Great Dust Storm: How Drought and Devastation Influenced Responsible Farming.'
In the junior group documentary category, Stillwater Junior High students Isaac Ringsmuth, Charles Hardy and Ian Bidelspach placed second for 'The Indian Salt March: Gandhi's March for Freedom.'
Emmy Xiang of Stillwater High School won third place for her senior paper, 'A 'King Tut' Tomb: The Looting of Spiro Mounds.'
Morrison High student Emma Haken won second place for her senior individual exhibit 'Ten Days in a Madhouse: The Illustrious Career of Nellie Bly,' while Morrison High student Emily Woodring took third place for her senior individual documentary 'The Angels of Auschwitz.'
Morrison High students Ariana Briny and Kynzi Kelty placed second for their senior group website 'Whispers of Motherhood: The Untold Stories of Maternity Homes,' and Morrison High students Rebecca Taylor, Ava Williams and Aubrey Grim placed third in the same category for their website 'Sowing Seeds of Change: The Women's Land Army of America's Influence on Rights and Responsibilities.'
In the senior group documentary category, Morrison High students Taleah Williams, Annie Kelly, Piper Roberts and Sydney Morgan captured first place with their documentary, 'Chilocco Indian Industrial School: A Rationale of Rights and Responsibilities.' Stillwater High students Kody Veal and Alexander Peetoom placed third in the same category for their documentary 'Beyond the Blast: Insight to Engineers' Rights and Responsibilities after the Challenger Disaster.
In the Special Prizes categories, Morrison Public Schools also won the Sweepstakes Winner for the senior division.
Some of the winners from the May competition will compete at the national competition in June.
'National History Day is a highly regarded academic program that is student-driven and allows students to learn about civic engagement while analyzing primary sources,' according to the release. 'The cross-curricular program meets Oklahoma standards for social studies and other subjects.'
OkNHD implements 'project-based learning,' focusing on historically themed topics. Students dive deep into primary and secondary research, using libraries, archives, museums and historic sites.
Upon analyzing and interpreting their sources, they are required to draw their conclusions about the topic's significance to history. Then they present their work through 'original papers, exhibits, performances, websites and documentaries,' according to the release.
Students enter their projects into spring competitions at regional, state and national contests – and professional historians, educators and community leaders evaluate them.
This year's theme was 'Rights & Responsibilities in History.'
The Bezos Family Foundation provided a grant to partially support the competition, which also covered NHD programs and professional workshop development for teachers.
The history center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and an accredited member of the American Alliance of Museums, according to the release. Its mission is 'to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people.'