Five Sonoma County students advanced to the National History Day competition in June at the University of Maryland after posting wins in the state competition on April 29.
Santa Rosa High School’s Kyra Kennedy, Sarah Andersen, Jonathan Brooner-Contreras, and Sarahi Robledo will head to nationals with their first ever entry “Women Fight for the Right” in the Senior Group Exhibit category.
Santa Rosa Middle School’s Stacey Olson, will be representing California for the third time at the national contest with “HeLa Cells: Modern Medicine, the War on Cancer, and Bioethics” in the Junior Historical Paper category.
Devon Bolt and James Barnes from Pleasant Hill Christian School won in the Elementary Group 2-D Display category for “From Sputnik to the Moon.” Since elementary projects are a California only competition, the boys will not advance to the national competition.
Pleasant Hill Christian’s Ian Imbach, Garrett Graff, Zac Doyle, and Austen Ambrosino won the first annual William E. Geary Memorial Award for their project on the Vietnam War. This annual award honors the memory and career William Geary, a Sonoma County attorney who died in 2011.
More than 40,000 students in California participate in National History Day activities, with 1,000 students advancing to the state finals.
In all, 21 Sonoma County students earned honors at the state competition, according to Whitney Olson, director of National History Day Sonoma County.
Olson provided the following list of other local winners:
SPECIAL AWARD WINNERS
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Elementary Excellence Award:
James Barnes & Devon Bolt (School: Pleasant Hill Christian School, Sebastopol)
Somos Primos Award:
Lexie Raasch & Shelbi Raasch (School: St. Rose Catholic School, Santa Rosa)
William E. Geary Memorial Award:
Ian Imbach, Garrett Graff, Zac Doyle, Austen Ambrosino (School: Pleasant Hill Christian School, Sebastopol)
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FINALISTS:
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Elementary Individual Poster
McKenna Chantha (School: R.L. Stevens Elementary, Santa Rosa)
Junior Individual Website
Anmol Singh (School: Wright Charter School, Santa Rosa)
Junior Individual Documentary
Brendan Snyder (School: St. Rose Elementary School, Santa Rosa)
Junior Group Exhibit
Ian Imbach, Garrett Graff, Zac Doyle, Austen Ambrosino (School: Pleasant Hill Christian School, Sebastopol)
Senior Group Exhibit
Allie Venezia, Emily Barber, Nova Oru (School: Santa Rosa High School, Santa Rosa)
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OUSTANDING IN COUNTY ENTRIES:
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JUNIOR DIVISION
Anmol Singh (Wright Charter School, Santa Rosa)
SENIOR DIVISION
Shah Baig (Technology High School, Rohnert Park)