RIVERSIDE – The fight for human rights, education rights, gender rights, and the historical impact of inventors, politicians, technologists, and even Barbie, are just a few of the subjects of 203 projects from 356 students at the 2023 Riverside County National History Day competition. The event will feature submissions from students representing ten school districts, and multiple private and charter schools from Riverside County on Saturday, March 11, 2023, at Canyon Springs High School (23100 Cougar Canyon Road, Moreno Valley, CA 92557). The event will begin at 9 a.m. and end with an awards ceremony at 4 p.m. in the gymnasium.
Featuring the 2023 theme of “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas”, the competition features students in grades 4-5 who will participate in the poster and podcast categories, and junior division (grades 6-8) and senior division (grades 9-12) students competing in the following individual and group categories:
- Documentary
- Performance
- Exhibit
- Paper
- Website
- Podcast
The only category open to the public for viewing will be the performance competition. Student exhibits and posters will be open to the public starting at 3 p.m.
The top three finishers in each category in the junior and senior division, and the top four finishers in the poster competition for 4th and 5th grade students, will advance to the National History Day-California State Competition to be held April 14-16, 2023, at California State University, Sacramento. Winners at the state level advance to the National History Day Competition, June 11-15, 2023, at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Students from the following Riverside County school districts and private schools are set to participate:
- Alvord USD
- Banning USD
- Corona-Norco USD
- Crossroads Christian School
- Moreno Valley USD
- Perris Union HSD
- Riverside USD
- Romoland SD
- St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School
- Val Verde USD
A brief selection of entries for 2023 includes:
Barbie – The Empire Created by a Frontier in the Toy Market
Category: Individual Website – Junior Division
Student: Mia Tustison
School: El Cerrito Middle School
District: Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description From Student: On March 9th, 1959, the iconic Barbie doll created by Ruth Handler was published by Mattel. She was the first mass-produced female doll for children with adult features in the United States and has had more than 200 careers, breaking down boundaries and becoming a frontier for women in the workforce and doll makers in the market.
Ni Una Mas: The Murdered and Missing Women of Juárez
Category: Group Documentary – Junior Division
Students: Aliyah Zaman, Miley Garcia, Janitzia Huerta Salcedo, Sophia Madrigal, Zayanna Mejico
School: Badger Springs Middle School
District: Moreno Valley Unified School District
Dolly the Sheep
Category: Group Performance – Junior Division
Students: Alizey Lodi, Aimee Zhu, Sarah Chou
School: Clara Barton Elementary School
District: Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description From Students: A look at Dolly the Sheep and her creators, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, as well as others from her team.
Elizabeth Blackwell: Crossing Frontiers as First Female Doctor in the United States
Category: Group Podcast – Junior Division
Students: Maya Moran, Kelsey Troast, Brooke Barba,
School: Matthew Gage Middle School
District: Riverside Unified School District
Apple's Macintosh: The Failure that Changed Personal Computing
Category: Individual Documentary – Junior Division
Student: Kian Revale
School: Lakeside Middle School
District: Val Verde Unified School District
Color In Film: Pioneering a New Frontier in Cinematography
Category: Group Documentary – Senior Division
Students: Eileen Lin, Preesha Bhakta, Sophia Pham, Angelina Yang
School: Eleanor Roosevelt High School
District: Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description From Students: Highlights how Technicolor allowed for a visual impact where for the first time in history, films weren’t the out-of-touch black-and-white pictures that represented a world not authentic to audiences.
The Singer Sewing Machine
Category: Individual Podcast – Junior Division
Student: Ezekiel Geisner
School: Ysmael Villegas Middle School
District: Alvord Unified School District
Virginia Hall: Crossing Gender Frontiers in Espionage and Intelligence
Category: Individual Performance – Junior Division
Student: Ava George
School: Corona Fundamental Intermediate School
District: Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description From Student: While the role of women in intelligence communities has evolved over time, the trailblazer who set the stage for other women to earn their rightful place in intelligence communities worldwide today is Virginia Hall, the first woman to establish a career at the CIA and the only woman awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.