LIHUE — Fourteen Kauai projects from three different educational establishments will advance to the state-level World History Day event following judges’ deliberation on Saturday during the Kauai District World History Day exhibit held at the Kauai Community College Learning Resource Center.
Sponsored primarily by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the group advancing to the state-level competition includes the sole finalist from Waimea High School and the sole finalist from the Hawaii Technical Academy, Alina Evanoff, who qualified for the state competition in a previous Kauai District World History Day.
Saturday’s field of finalists included approximately 60 student projects from three schools: Island School, Waimea High School, and the Hawaii Technical Academy. The projects were judged by a panel that included retired professors and other community professionals.
The remainder of the qualifying projects hail from Island School, whose Hunter Robinson celebrated a birthday with a song during the networking while waiting on the judges’ interviews.
Other Island School finalists discovered the library card file system tucked away in a corner of the Learning Resource Center and eagerly thumbed through the drawers of cards in the Dewey Decimal System after being briefed on how the system works.
Cassandra Chee, the Director of Communications for the Hawaii Council for the Humanities, said Hawaii History Day is a statewide competition featuring 35 schools, 69 teachers, and more than 5,000 students in grades 4 through 12 engaged with Hawaii History Day curriculum and events on Hawaii Island, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Kauai.
“Last year on Kauai, 56 students from three schools submitted projects as documentaries, websites, performances, exhibit boards, or essays,” Chee said. “Teachers commented how the projects and inter-scholastic competition motivated and energized students during a difficult year.”
For nearly 40 years, Hawaii History Day has encouraged students in grades 4 through 12 at public, private, charter, and home schools to research the district, state, and national levels.
Results
• Junior Individual Documentary: “Lighting the Way to Freedom The Matchgirls Strike” Sofia Lewis (Island School); “Proposition 65: The Law That Disappointed a Nation” Cora Rosenthal (Island School).
• Senior Individual Documentary: “Panama, January 9th, 1964: The Rights and Responsibilities of National High Schoolers” Stanley Nelson Kimmel (Waimea High School); “The Right to Informed Consent” Alina Evanoff (Hawaii Technology Academy).
• Junior Group Documentary: “How Fred Korematsu Fought For Japanese American Rights” Emilio Nagramada/Kelii Hosaka (Island School); “First Amendment Right: Freedom of Speech” (Aiden Godinez/Finnegan Warrack (Island School).
• Junior Individual Exhibit: “Rising of Women’s Rights and Responsibilities” Vivian Ledesma (Island School); “The Bombing of Kahoolawe” Nae Vaughn (Island School).
• Junior Group Exhibit: “The Bombing of Hiroshima: A Struggle for Human Rights” Hana Hoshino/Raiatea Skabo/Sophie Cornell (Island School); “The Legacy of Princess Pauahi” Ella Ventura/Nalahaweo Anakalea (Island School).
• Junior Individual Website: “Calamity of Comfort Women: A Tainted Legacy” Rylie Matsuoka (Island School); “The California Gold Rush: Truly Worth Its Weight in Gold” Georgia Ulloa (Island School).
• Junior Group Website: “Voting Rights Act” Hunter Robinson/Oliver Bogue/Oliver Templeman (Island School); “The Endangered Species Act” Sol Herrera/Tanner Miller (Island School).
