Bronxville High School freshmen and sophomores earned awards for their outstanding history research projects at the 2024 New York State History Day Contest, held at SUNY Oneonta on April 14. Out of 10 senior division projects, Bronxville claimed four of those spots and earned the opportunity to advance to the national competition.

“New York State History Day was an amazing experience again this year,” said teacher Dana Landesman, who oversees the program. “All of our Bronxville students represented the school so well. We couldn’t help but beam with pride. This is the largest group of student projects moving forward to the national competition than ever before.”

In addition to Landesman, members of the history department, including Chris Doyle, Eva Gambino, Steve Klurfeld and Martin Patmos, have worked tirelessly to support and motivate the students to produce outstanding work.

Multiple Foundation grants have funded visiting coaches who specialize in film, performing arts, web, and media design, enabling students to engage the world through deeply thoughtful and creative projects.

Having conducted extensive historical research on a topic of their choice, the students’ authentic work focused on this year’s theme of “Turning Points in History.” At the state competition, they were interviewed by professors and scholars and articulated what they’ve discovered through their historical research, which is displayed in either paper, website, documentary, performance or exhibit.

Congratulations to the following students who earned the top spots at the competition:

Group Exhibit

• First place: Caroline Hardart, Louise Jacobs and Virgina Shah – “Automats and American Identity: Horn and Hardart’s Impact on Culture and Social Interactions.”

Individual Exhibit

• Second place: Emerson Dennis – “Illuminated Manuscripts: Preserving and Transforming Literature through Illustrations.”

Individual Documentary

• Second place: Emma Yeon – “Twinflowers: The lives of Linnaeus and Solander as Taxonomic Turning Point.”

Paper

• Second Place: Sebastian Jew – “From Conflict to Cooperation: The 1969 Sino-Soviet Border Conflict and Sino-American Rapprochement.”

Group Documentary

• Third Place: Thomas Freeman, Nicholas Gonda, Simon Leka, John Shah, Fletcher Van Tienhoven – “Breaking Enigma: The Untold Story of Poland’s Codebreakers.”

The first- and second-place finalists have advanced to the 2024 National Contest, which will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park, from June 9-13. The third-place winners will serve as alternates.