On June 6-13, 2025, 63 students represented Utah at the 2025 National History Day contest, competing alongside 3,000 students from 58 state and international affiliate programs. The rigorous academic competition is held each June at the University of Maryland, College Park, in the Washington, D.C. area.
Utah’s national qualifiers, along with teachers and families, traveled from Cache, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Wayne, and San Juan counties to spend a week competing and exploring the historic sites, museums, and monuments of the Nation’s Capitol.
The Utah delegation was honored to receive guided tours of the U.S. Capitol building by Utah’s senate interns, one of whom is an NHD alumnus. They found the new statue of Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon along with Brigham Young in Statuary Hall. Afterward, Sen. John Curtis (R, UT) met with our group of ~120 people on the Capitol steps.
By chance, Sen. Cory Booker (D, NY) was on the steps at the same time, and came over to meet our group. Together, the two Senate colleagues told the students about Senator Booker’s historic 25-hour and 5-minute speech on the Senate floor in March 2025, which Senator Curtis helped preside over. It made for a memorable afternoon.
A New York Times article on the weeklong event featured second-time national qualifier Thomas Fowler, of Orem. “Many displays included clever, low-tech versions of the interactive features common in professionally designed exhibits–like the one about the Panama Canal, where a cutout photograph of Jimmy Carter urged visitors to open the doors of piled-up miniature shipping containers.” The Times also noted the extent of Fowler’s research: “after watching the documentary ‘Carterland’… [Fowler] read through two long treaties. ‘I loved finding little typos,’ he said.”
Junior high school students Philo Dibble and Quinn Sullivan were selected to exhibit their project for a day at the National Museum of American History, as part of the NHD Smithsonian Showcase program. The two boys researched the history of women in NASA’s astronaut program.
At the end of the contest, three Utah entries received national medals, and two more received honorable mentions.
Utah’s national delegation included middle and high school students from Clayton MS, Eisenhower JH, Frontier MS, Lake Mountain MS, Lakeridge JH, Timberline JH, Providence Hall MS, Thomas Edison Charter Schools, Vanguard Academy, Waterford School, West Bountiful Elementary, West Lake STEM Academy, Granger HS, Ogden HS, San Juan HS, Skyline HS, and Wayne HS.
National Medalists
African American History Award
Zoe Lai, “Reconstructing Rights and Ignoring Graves: Legal Oversight of African American Grave Protection During the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” The Waterford School.
Outstanding State Entries: Top Ten in their Category
6th Place Junior Group Website | Mary Flint and Evelyn Squires, “Peacetime Conscription in the United Kingdom: Balancing Rights, Responsibilities, and National Security,” Timberline Middle School, teacher: Cali Dansie Burgess.
8th Place Senior Group Documentary | Luke Hansen and Drake Stanley, “Bataan’s Brutality: How Neglected Responsibilities in the Bataan Death March Shaped POW Rights,” Timberline Middle School, teacher: Cali Dansie Burgess.
National Honors
Smithsonian National Museum of American History Exhibit Showcase
Junior Group Exhibit | Philo Dibble and Quinn Sullivan, “Space for Women – The Unseen Space Race for Equal Gender Rights in the Astronaut Program,” Lakeridge Junior High, teacher: James Romrell.
Honorable Mention Entries
Junior Group Exhibit | Clara Draper, Eleanor Walton, “The Fight for Deaf Rights,” Lakeridge Junior High, teacher: James Romrell.
Junior Group Performance | Darcy Catmull, Summer Olenik, Sydney Eraso, “Breaking Chains: The Fight for Child Labor Reform in Pennsylvania,” Lakeridge Junior High, teacher: James Romrell.
Zoe Lai, “Reconstructing Rights and Ignoring Graves: Legal Oversight of African American Grave Protection During the Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” The Waterford School, teacher: ChiaNing Lai.
National History Day® in Utah is a year-round history education program serving 4th-12th grade students statewide. Through NHD, students learn history by doing history. They choose a topic from local, national, or world history that fits within NHD’s annual theme. By participating in NHD, students learn how to do real historical research, analyze primary and secondary sources, and make an argument based on evidence. Learn more about NHD at history.utah.gov/utah-history-day.