High School in the Community (HSC) junior Mya Stettinger has spent months researching the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma, while twin sisters and HSC sophomores Priya and Janu Patel have been diving deep on the 1943 Bengal Famine in southern Asia.
Later this month, all three students will bring their research to the University of Maryland, College Park as they compete in this year’s National History Day competition.
The HSC students have three goals in mind: sharing their knowledge, taking home a win, and having fun with other students around the country who also have a love for history.
Stettinger has participated in the History Day competition for the past three years. The Patels are competing for the second year in a row.
The three students were supported by HSC history teacher Danny Roque and library media specialist Karen Quinn, who partnered with Rebecca Taber of the Connecticut Democracy Center for additional resources and support.
Stettinger and the Patels have separate GoFundMes running to help them afford the trip to nationals now that both of their projects have qualified. The national History Day competition will take place from June 14 to June 18 at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Click here and here to view the two GoFundMe fundraisers, each of which is more than halfway to their respective goals.
This year’s competition theme is “revolution, reaction, and reform.”
Stettinger selected the Tulsa massacre because it represents a historic moment of violent reaction . “I was so interested in telling the story even though so many sources didn’t exist,” she said.
Her thesis is: “The destruction of Black Wall Street was an institutionally supported reaction to Greenwood’s economic revolution. By suppressing the history of the massacre and denying legal recourse to survivors, the city of Tulsa effectively stifled Black progress and obstructed systemic reform for over a century.”
The Patel sisters said they have a desire to dive into a history that relates to their own heritage. They were drawn to the 1943 Bengal Famine because it had such a large-scale impact, even though they’d never heard of it before starting research.
The Patels’ thesis is: “In reaction to the threat of mass starvation, M.S. Swaminathan’s Green Revolution achieved a historic agricultural reform that fed a nation. Yet, facing the unintended ecological damage of these methods, Swaminathan’s later work demonstrates that global food security requires a constant revision — balancing high productivity with environmental stewardship and social equity.”
History Day finalists, with their boards.
Quinn, HSC’s library media specialist, recalled the trio working in the library almost daily some weeks since the start of the school year. Stettinger picked her topic last summer after learning what this year’s competition theme was.
Quinn helped the students conduct research, identify primary and secondary resources, and incorporate audio into their projects.
Roque has been facilitating HSC’s participation in local, regional, and state History Day competitions for the past 11 years. Nearly every year, HSC students make it to the state-wide competition. He primarily helps students keep their projects in accordance with competition rules, reminding them to have primary and secondary sources, follow word counts, and maintain the target of proving their theses.
Throughout the school year, these three students made frequent revisions to their respective project boards. After each competition, they start from scratch with a new board building off of the feedback they received at earlier competitions.
The Patels’ project began with a focus on researching the science of agriculture and its impact. It later shifted after they received feedback to focus on the famine’s impact on women, who responded by fighting for equality and increased rights.
Quinn said that the History Day projects have prompted the students to become leaders around the school building.
While Stettinger is working to go into criminal justice, she said her History Day journeys over the years have helped her to improve her research, expand her personal thinking, and encourage her to seek out justice-related work.
Priya and Janu Patel both want to go into business management. Janu said the History Day competitions have helped her to improve in communicating while Priya said they have helped her to overcome being shy and improve her time-management skills.
This year HSC had 12 students go to the regional History Day competition. Stettinger was nicknamed the “History Day guardian angel” for her work helping to lead her peers through the process and mentoring them with their projects.
The Patels and Stettinger each stuck with their History Day projects while also taking two advanced placement (AP) courses and a dual-enrollment college course.
The trio credited Roque and Quinn because, as Stettinger said, “I wouldn’t have wanted to do this for three years if I wasn’t getting the motivation from someone other than myself.”
Roque and Quinn agreed that the students that participate in History Day have grit, curiosity, and the ability to take criticism.
Priya said that seeing other students from beyond New Haven has been inspiring. “I learned so much from people my age and it just makes it even more fun,” she said.
Stettinger concluded that the competitions have inspired her to research history in her free time because of her newfound interest in learning more about how the past shapes the present.
Roque said that while HSC’s resources are finite, the competition motivates students, particularly because it’s about accuracy. “It’s miraculous for us because we’re outperforming suburban districts with endless amounts of resources,” Roque said, “because we have students that have the grit to show what it is to be a lifelong learner.”
The Patel’s audio component for Bengal Famine project.
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