Forty Lynchburg City Schools (LCS) students will advance to the 2025 Virginia History Day (VHD) state contest in Richmond on April 26 and 27. They placed first, second, or third in their age divisions at the district competition at Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) on March 29.
Each of these students spent months researching historical topics of interest and presenting their findings using creative approaches and various forms of media. This interdisciplinary research project helped students develop critical thinking and literacy skills while connecting with historical events and concepts. This year’s theme is “Rights and Responsibilities in History.”
Congratulations to the following students, who qualified for the state contest:
Dearington Elementary School for Innovation
- Aaron Braxton, Jeremiah Ford, and Jacob Wright: First place, Group Exhibit. Topic: “Mario Brothers Nintendo”
- Keegan Bush, Jacobi Goode, and Kamran Horsley: First place, Group Exhibit. Topic: “Jackie Robinson”
- Leo Kudlich: First place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: “Adolph Hitler and The Holocaust”
Dunbar Middle School for Innovation
- Lucinda Pollard and Hannah Proebsting: First place, Group Documentary. Topic: “One Small Step: A Brief History of Women in Space”
- Catherine Haiar: Second place, Group Documentary. Topic: “A History Of Gay Rights”
- Liam Morykon, Chloe Perdue, and Caroline Pollard: First place, Group Exhibit. Topic: “From loss of life to beacon of light: How the Holocaust redefined human rights”
- Dallas Haskins and Victoria Jones: Second place, Group Performance. Topic: “West Virginia Mine Wars”
- Alex Fosnaugh: First place, Individual Documentary. Topic: “The Homestead Act of 1862”
- Benson Kee: Third place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: "The Tuskegee Airmen: The Men Who Fought Two Wars”
- Asher Foster: Second place, Individual Website. Topic: “The Draft: A Look at Both Sides”
Linkhorne Middle School
- Gavin Baird, Dominic Grandeo, and Cooper Smithson: Third place, Group Documentary. Topic: “Puerto Rican Rights”
- Clayton Cox, Aria Gugliotta, and Mac Morrison: Second place, Group Exhibit. Topic: “The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall”
- Virginia Blair and Ryzon Vasquez: Third place, Group Exhibit. Topic: “Loving v. Virginia: The Right to Love”
- Eve Flavin, Eleanor Fontaine, Josi Hall, Harmony Spinner, and Waverly Thomasey: First place, Group Website. Topic: “Brown v. Board of Education”
- Sloan Dupree, Callie Fulcher, and Jada Goode: Second place, Group Website. Topic: “WVR (Women Voting Right)”
- James Flavin: First place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: “Mother Jones and the Fight for Worker’s Rights”
- Sydney Huffman: Second place, Individual Exhibit. Topic: “Anne Spencer”
- Eliot Wiebe: First place, Individual Website. Topic: “Votes and Voices: The Story of American Democracy”
- Aria Revely: Third place, Individual Website. Topic: “Madam CJ Walker”
Heritage High School
- Kaia Williams: First place, Individual Website. Topic: “The Sound Of The Rain”
- Jacob Sawyers: Second place, Individual Website. Topic: “How Rights, Personal Freedoms, and Responsibilities Were Used for Stalin's Control”
The following students also won special awards in their content categories:
- Kaia Williams, Heritage High School: Labor and Human Rights Award. Topic: “The Sound Of The Rain”
- Jack Sorensen, Linkhorne Middle School: Military History Award. Topic: “The Tuskegee Airmen of WWII”
- Leo Kudlich, Dearington Elementary School for Innovation: Political History Award. Topic: “Adolph Hitler and The Holocaust”
- Janiyah Scott, Dearington Elementary School for Innovation: STEM History Award. Topic: “History of Phones”
- Eliot Wiebe, Linkhorne Middle School: Women's History Award. Topic: “Votes and Voices: The Story of American Democracy”