Student’s Perspective: Winner reflects on virtual Tennessee National History Day win

National History Day is an annual contest where students around the world to conduct historical research on a topic of their choice. Students enter these projects at the local and affiliate levels, with top students advancing to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. This year's state level contest was held virtually.

Here are the TN NHD winners that will advance to Nationals:

First place - Senior Individual Performance - Samit Ahmed First Place - Junior Group Website - Zaheen Chowdhury and Yasmeen Mannan First place - Senior Group Website - Manal Aboushala and Naisha Chowdhury Second place - Senior Individual Performance - Nia Yusuf Second place - Junior Individual website - Fayadh Chowdhury Third Place - Senior Paper - Zahra Chowdhury

Educator of the Year Senior Division: Calvin Shaw

One of the winners Nia Yusuf talks about her experience:

This year’s Tennessee History Day was virtual rather than in Nashville. This is my third year participating in the state contest and my second win at Nashville.

I won second place in the Senior Individual Performance category for my project titled “Nashville Sit-Ins: Breaking Barriers at Lunch Counters.”

After I won at the regional level, I instantly began to make changes to my project and used the judge’s feedback. Since performance requires lots of practice, I rewrote my script as soon as possible so I could memorize it in time for the state level.

Usually, I perform in front of the judges but this year, we were fortunate to record our performances and send them to the judges. I could keep re-filming my performance until I got it to my liking. I filmed my performance more than 10 times until I got it. This year was actually less stressful because all I had to do was submit it.

I am fortunate to win this year and represent Tennessee but most importantly, PVS.

Medals, t-shirts, and buttons will be mailed to all winners. Nationals will be held from June 14-18 at College Park, Maryland. Usually, about 3,000 winners attend but the projected estimate of winners attending will be half of that amount. Therefore, the Tennessee Historical Society would like every winner to attend and honor the winners’ registration fees for the National level.

Congratulations to the Educator of the Year, Mr. Shaw and the other PVS winners advancing to Nationals!