This is one for the history books: Sunny Chen '24 took home the first place prize and Elena Capobianco '23 took third in the National History Day (NHD) Contest. For Chen, this is her second consecutive year winning the contest. 

NHD, a "non-profit education organization based in College Park, Maryland" engages "middle- and high-school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest." Each year, it hosts the NHD Contest. The theme for 2020-2021 is Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.

Chen won first place the individual website category for her project, "Joseph Goebbels: The Master of Mass Manipulation and Communication." "I feel so grateful and fortunate that I was able to start NHD at Moravian Academy, since it was one of my favorite projects at my old school," she says. "I hope I can make this a club in the future and bring more students this amazing opportunity!"

Capobianco earned third place in the individual documentary category for her project, "Stamping History: The Impact of the Printing Press on Communication." "The NHD competition allowed me to expand my horizons through experiencing an individual research project with the final product of a documentary. I was given the opportunity to interview some wonderful people and gather information from primary sources on various history platforms," she says. "The experience truly furthered my love of history and granted a greater understanding of the affect a simple invention such as the printing press can have on the course of history."

According to the NHD website, more than half a million students enter the annual contest at the local and affiliate levels in order to advance to the national competition.