Rhode Island Students Participate in Statewide History Contest

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – One hundred and thirty-eight middle and high school students from across Rhode Island competed in this year’s Rhode Island History Day 2023 Contest, which was held Saturday, April 1 at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, RI and was coordinated and sponsored by the Rhode Island Historical Society.

The 2023 contest theme was “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas” with middle and high school students invited to contribute individual or group projects in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, and website. During the Contest, volunteer judges from K-12 schools, colleges and universities, museums, and history organizations evaluated student projects, focusing on historical argument and presentation.

First and second-place winners in each category will advance to the National Contest, which will be held at the University of Maryland this June. This year saw winners from Barrington High School (Barrington), Birchwood Middle School (North Providence), De La Salle Middle School (Providence), Western Hills Middle School (Cranston), Jamestown School-Lawn (Jamestown), La Salle Academy (Providence), Narragansett Pier School (Narragansett), Ponaganset High School (Glocester), St. Luke’s School (Barrington), St. Peter School (Warwick), St. Philomena School (Portsmouth), Portsmouth Abbey School (Portsmouth), Tiverton Middle School (Tiverton), Toll Gate High School (Warwick), and Winman Junior High School (Warwick). Special awards were also given to students whose entries best addressed particular subjects in history.

In addition to students selected in each project category, students were selected for special awards and scholarships for projects that focus their research in particular areas:

• Rhode Island Labor History Award: Carly Dollarhide and Sarah Floody (exhibit, Changing Wounds in History: A Women’s Time in No Man’s Land), from Narragansett Pier School; Kellen Gagne (website, Untold History of Early Chinese Immigrants), from Winman Junior High School; Paige Reynolds (exhibit, Radium Rights: How Licking Stopped Ticking in Frontier for Workplace Safety)

• Rhode Island Secretary of State Award: Zachary Snizek from Tiverton Middle School (exhibit, Nathanael Greene: New Frontiers in Military Tactics)

• Carter Roger Williams Initiative Award: Aidan Shea from the St. Peter School (paper, Frontiers in History: The Constitution of the United States)

• The Naval Order of the United States Award: Genevieve Bilodeau from St. Luke’s School (website, World War II: Women in the American Military) and Finn Riccio from St. Luke’s School (documentary, ICEX: A New Frontier in Under-Ice Warfare)

• National Maritime History Award: Gianna Simone, Jacob Freeborn, Navjot Kaur, Sanvi Aggarwal from Western Hills Middle School (exhibit, The Underwater Frontier: The Origin of Submarines)

Teachers and homeschool families who would like to learn more about participating in Rhode Island History Day can contact the Rhode Island State Contest Coordinator by emailing rhodeisland@nhd.org.