Three Warsaw students did well at National History Day competition last week, earning some awards.
Zack Rooker, Warsaw Community High School sophomore, placed third in Senior Individual Documentary. His documentary was titled, "Is Such a Thing Possible? The Most Shameful Innovation in History".
Mayra Malagon and Vanessa Malagon, Edgewood Middle School, Warsaw, received an Outstanding State Entry award in the Junior Group Performance category. Each state is awarded one of the awards. Their performance was titled "The Two Wonderful Hair Growers".
Nationals for National History Day was June 13-17 in Maryland.
"Zack, Mayra and Vanessa worked very hard on their projects this year and their success at National History Day is a testament to their efforts," said Matt Durrett, coordinator of National History Day in Indiana. "Zack continues to show his passion for history and filmmaking with another phenomenal documentary. We have seen his work in the past, but every single year we are blown away by the product he puts forward. Mayra and Vanessa went above and beyond the standard expectations by conducting research at the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Library, and Madam C.J. Walker Theater in Indianapolis and putting together a unique and thoughtful performance on the lives of two influential women. Using National History Day as a guide, all three conducted college-level research and deserve a lot of recognition for their achievements at the national level!"
Rooker competed at nationals for the fourth year, while eighth-grader Mayra Malagon, Edgewood Middle School, competed for the second time. It was the first trip for Vanessa Malagon, also an eighth-grader at Edgewood.
National History Day competition has five different project categories, including performance, documentary, Web site, research paper and exhibit. The theme for this year's competition was "Innovation & History: Impact & Change."
Rookier chose to do a 10-minute documentary on Hitler's Final Solution, the holocaust. His documentary covered from the invasion of Russian on June 22, 1941, to the Wannsee Conference June 20, 1942.
Mayra and Vanessa Malagon did their performance on a controversy between Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone. The controversy was over which black woman became the first woman ever to become a millionaire.
