The Fayetteville-Manlius History Club did astounding this week at the National History Day Competition held at BOCES in Liverpool. 18 total students competed in the competition, and 10 FM students with 7 projects qualified for the state competition. 

National History Day is a student-driven research competition. Students can create historical research projects in the form of exhibits, documentaries, papers, performances and websites; they can work as a group or individually. All students placing first or second place qualified for states.

In the Individual Exhibit, Lilly Meagher won first place for her project “The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Effect on Women Breaking Into The Workforce and Female Representation in the Media.” Vanessa Gaffney received 2nd place for “Détente: The Superhero Who Saved The America.” The project “I Love Lucy:” Where Fame, Film, and Flair, Met Feminism” by Sonia LaHaye also received 3rd place. 

In the Group Exhibit competition, Zoey Anastasiou and Jocelyn Silvis placed first for their project “Turning Point of the Civil Rights Movement: Church Bombing in Birmingham (1963).” Addison Trussell and Amelia Williams won second for “Locked Behind Doors.” Annabel Bartkowiak, Ava Hathorn, and Emmy Murphy’s project “Carries Better Nation: The Time for Temperance” placed third. 

During the Group Documentary competition, Sydney McIntyre and Ella Stephenson won first place for their project “18 Lives Continued.” 

Some people also wrote papers. Sarah Olson received first place for her paper, “The Invention of Blackface Minstrelsy: An Assertion of White America’s Definition of Blackness” and Ethan Kotoklo got second place for his paper “The Sins of Freedom.” All four of these students’ projects qualified for states. 

Congratulations to everyone who placed and to everyone who qualified for the NYS History Day Competition. The state competition will be held on the campus of SUNY Oneonta on April 14th.  Best wishes to all FM participants!