Gallery • 5 Photos

Sophia M. '25

A junior puts finishing touches on her project about a federal drug scandal. She had mini pill bottles and white dots representing the drugs.

Every year, juniors in the U.S. History class partake in the National History Day Project. This year’s theme is Debate and Diplomacy. The juniors had the options of a website, presentation, poster, and more.

Junior Anna Szczerba did her National History Day Project on the “The Role of the United Nations in the Cuban Missile Crisis.” Szczerba and her partner, CeCe Russo, decided to create a website for their assignment. Szczerba said she feels that making the website enabled her to continue doing work even when she wasn’t with her partner. The website also allowed a higher word count than the exhibit projects, which she preferred.

“I am excited for National History Day to present my website,” Szczerba said.

Szczerba appreciated the milestones throughout the project. She only had to do smaller portions of the project by a given date and later put them all together. She said it allowed her to flow through the process without rushing it.

“It was certainly a challenging project with a lot of time committed,” Szczerba said.

The only part that seemed to be challenging for Szczerba was the formatting of her website, she said. Once her assignment was complete, she felt her stress level drop.

Szczerba suggests that future juniors doing the National History Day project stay on top of their work. Szczerba said that milestones are very important and that students need to plan ahead of time. She explained how she learned more from doing this project than simply doing regular assignments.

“It was a good learning experience and definitely different from the work we do in regular classes,” Szczerba said.

U.S. History teacher Ms. Manganiello guided students with their Nation History Day projects. She worked with them through the milestones and helped students as they neared the deadline. Manganiello said she appreciates this year’s theme, “Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences,” because it allowed contemporary topics like Szczerba’s.

“I think that it allows students to explore historical events and explore things like debating vaccines and diplomacy or international relations with other countries,” Manganiello said.

Throughout the years of National History Day projects, many changes have taken place. The biggest one is including the choice to do an online project instead of an exhibit, as Szczerba did. Many students have decided to take on that challenge of a website.

“We’re allowing girls to do online exhibits instead of tangible presentations,” Manganiello said.

Manganiello said that the National History Day project has impacted Padua positively. She explained how she sees a lot of historical context lessons which allows them to cultivate strong research techniques. Manganiello knows that it was a big load to take on, but she feels that the students worked effectively and made great progress.

“It gives students a lot of great exposure to history topics that they are interested in,” Manganiello said.

Hear Dr. Hall talk about History Day.