Indiana Students Heading to Nationals for the 2025 National History Day Contest

The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is proud to announce that 65 students from across Indiana have qualified to participate in the 2025 National History Day® (NHD) National Contest, to be held June 8–12 at the University of Maryland, College Park.

These students were selected from a pool of nearly 400 participants in the 2025 National History Day in Indiana (NHDI) State Contest, demonstrating exceptional research, creativity, and historical analysis in their projects. Each student advanced through a series of regional and state-level competitions before earning their place at the national level.

Now in its 51st year, the National History Day program challenges students in grades 4 through 12 to conduct original historical research and present their findings through one of five formats: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Nearly 3,000 students from across the United States and international schools are expected to take part in this year’s week-long national contest.

Throughout the academic year, Indiana students collaborated with teachers, utilized educational resources, and engaged deeply with historical topics to bring their projects to life.

The National Contest represents the final stage of a rigorous academic program designed to inspire curiosity and foster a deeper understanding of history among young learners.

List of Indiana Students Going to the 2025 National History Day National Contest

Brown County Schools

Junior Group Documentary

• “Rights, Responsibilities, and the Endangered Species Act” – Hailey Phillips, Kristin Evans (Brown County Middle School)

Junior Group Performance

• “Rights and Responsibilities in History: Remembering the Legacy of Ryan White” – Aesop Birkemeier, Alison Schrader, Kaleb Ice, Sully Rockwell (Brown County Middle School)

Elkhart County Schools

• Junior Group Performance
  • “Musicians of Civil Rights” – Aneri Mehta, Ania Berkshire, Aubrey Burmeister, Brenda Martinez (West Side Middle School)
• Junior Individual Exhibit
  • “Dorothea Dix and the Asylum Movement” – Paige Miller (West Side Middle School)

Fulton County Schools

• Junior Group Exhibit
  • “Jim Crow Literacy Tests” – Brie Scott, Jacob Hayes, Makayla Murphy (Tippecanoe Valley Middle School)

Hamilton County Schools

• Junior Individual Documentary
  • “World War II: When Rights Clashed with Responsibility” – Ayan Kalra (Creekside Middle School)
• Senior Group Documentary
  • “Buried Rights and Broken Duties: Love Canal and the Call for Responsibility” – Benjamin Lu, Divya Ariyur, Emma An, Shawn Feng (Carmel High School)
• Senior Group Performance
  • “One Man, One Case, One Legacy: Korematsu’s Stand” – Ella Guo, Siyu Pei, Tiffany Gao, Zaina Khan (Carmel High School)
  • “An Insane Investigation: Nellie Bly’s Fight to Restore Patients Rights” – Karis Ho, Tami Adepeju (Carmel High School)
• Senior Individual Website
  • “Gaokao 1977: Restoring Citizens’ Rights and the Chinese Government’s Responsibility to Higher Education” – Katelyn Chen (Carmel High School)
• Senior Individual Exhibit
  • “Taken Away: Violated Rights and Neglected Responsibilities in Native American Boarding Schools” – Elise Maurer (Carmel High School)
  • “The Circus” – Imogen Catlin (Carmel High School)
• Senior Group Exhibit
  • “Forged and Forgotten: The Steel Industry’s Rights and Responsibilities in the Decline of Gary, Indiana” – Henry Brogan, Sidhanth Kashyap (Carmel High School)
  • “Divided Dances: American Bandstand’s Negligence of Civil Rights and Media Responsibility” – Delanyo Fefey, Fatimah McCollum (Carmel High School)
• Senior Group Website
  • “Gregg v. Georgia: The Execution of Justice” – Katie Zhao, Stephanie Tan, Valerie Fu (Carmel High School)

Lake County Schools

• Senior Individual Documentary
  • “Standing Up for Equality: The 504 Sit-In and Kitty Cone” – Natalie Wadkins (Griffith Senior High School)

Marion County Schools

• Junior Paper
  • “Rights and Responsibilities of the Patient-Physical Relationship: The Libby Zion Story” – Mina Raiesdana (Sycamore School)
• Junior Individual Documentary
  • “YELLOWFACE and the Right to Play Oneself” – Tabitha Ko (Sycamore School)
• Junior Group Documentary
  • “The First Saturday Night Live Episode After 9/11” – Barrett Hart, Pearson Prifogle (Northview Middle School)
• Junior Group Website
  • “The Banana Massacre – A Deadly Lesson in Corporate Power” – Diego Gonzalez Renteria, Diego Morales Ramirez (Eastwood Middle School)
• Junior Group Exhibit
  • “The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act” – Cora Paige, Elizabeth Rabuck, Kendall Smurdon (Eastwood Middle School)
• Senior Individual Documentary
  • “Prisoners of War: The Japanese Internment Camps of WW2” – Joseph Raines (North Central High School)
• Senior Individual Performance
  • “From Exploitation to Reform: The Push for Fair Labor Standards” – Lucy Mann (North Central High School)
• Senior Individual Website
  • “Those Excluded Yet Unforgettable: Chinese Immigrants in the Making of America” – Miu Ichikawa (North Central High School)

Marshall County Schools

• Senior Paper
  • “Rights, Responsibilities, and the Legacy of Napalm in the Vietnam War” – Audrey Su (Culver Academies)
  • “States’ Rights and National Responsibilities Within the Nullification Crisis” – King Lok Wang (Culver Academies)
• Senior Group Documentary
  • “Gates Unopened: The Enduring Impact of Chinese Exclusion Laws, Its Resistance, and Its Legacy” – Zechen Guo, Zixin Su (Culver Academies)

Perry County Schools

• Junior Individual Performance
  • “Wounded Knee” – Ada Mundy (Homeschool)
• Senior Individual Performance
  • “The Rights and Responsibilities in Designing and Using the R7, Sputnik, and the N1” – Maximilian Mundy (Homeschool)

St. Joseph County Schools

• Junior Paper
  • “The Bonus Army March of 1932: A Fight of Determination, Unity, and to Uphold One’s Responsibilities” – Abhijay Masetty (Discovery Middle School)
• Junior Group Website
  • “William Penn” – Charlie Meyers, Tanner Tomczak, Wyatt Dainty (St. Anthony de Padua)
• Junior Individual Performance
  • “The Queens, New York Newsboys’ Strike of 1899 and How the Newsies Stood Up for Their Rights” – Abigail Franklin (John J. Young Middle School)
• Junior Individual Website
  • “The Second Sino-Japanese War and the American Responsibility to Intervene” – Owen Burns (John J. Young Middle School)
• Junior Individual Exhibit
  • “The Salem Witch Trials” – Chloe Montgomery (John J. Young Middle School)

Whitley County Schools

• Senior Group Website
  • “Rolling Toward Equality: The Red Ball Express and the African American Experience in World War II Military Service” – Clinton Wolfe, Jonathon Pratt, Luke Bean, Steven Boyd (Columbia City High School)

For more information, visit www.indianahistory.org/historyday or call (317) 232-1882.

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