Sen. Brown with National History Day students

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) met with 25 middle and high school students from Cuyahoga County competing in the final round of National History Day (NHD).  Having won the Ohio statewide competition earlier this year, the students are participating in the national contest held at the University of Maryland, College Park. Nine students, Pheby Liu, Maya Farhat, Michael Tsou, Megan Porter, Dhweeja Dasarathy, Ammar Lone, Maryum Ali, Adam Issa, and John Hessler, attend Birchwood School in Cleveland; sixteen students, Ben Goodman, Lucy Richman, David Shakno, John Vodrey, Caroline Creed, Madeline Hertz, Taylor Butze, Conor Matthews, Eliza Sindelar, Zach Reizes, Browning Haynes, Audrey Anderle, Marcia Brown, Abby White, Nick Adamson, and Cherie Lo attend Shaker Heights High School.  

“Ohio’s schools, like Birchwood School and Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, equip our future generation of leaders with the skills they will need to succeed in the future” Sen. Brown said. “These middle school and high school students should be proud of their history projects and how far they have come for National History Day.  I have no doubt that each of these students has a bright future ahead.”

National History Day was established as a local contest in Cleveland, Ohio, by Dr. David Van Tassel and members of the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University in 1974. The program expanded throughout the Midwest and became a national program in 1980 with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Today, more than a half million students across the country participate each year. 

The Ohio students’ projects covered national and international issues, such as the Camp David Accords and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  Others’ focused on local Ohio history in the grand scheme of American history, such as the desegregation and integration of Cleveland-area schools or the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio.  The students have conducted research on their various topics and present them in the form of papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries, both as individuals and as groups.

 

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