LAHS junior Abby Beus placed second in the National History Day 2019 competition with her research paper on the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Photo Courtesy LAPS

Los Alamos students, back row from left, Logan Black, Maybelle Wilson and Ashley Miller, and Kaisa Drew, front, at the University of New Mexico Saturday. Photo Courtesy LAPS

LAPS NEWS

National History Day students from Los Alamos High School and Los Alamos Middle School competed at the University of New Mexico Saturday to determine whose projects will represent our state in the national NHD competition. Eleven students from LAHS and two students from LAMS advanced from the regional NHD competitions in January to compete in the state contest held April 6.  

Individual students and groups chose their own topics based on this year’s theme “Triumph and Tragedy.” After researching primary and secondary sources related to their topic, students presented their research by creating one of five possible projects: a performance, a documentary film, a research paper, an exhibit or a website.  

LAHS junior, Abby Beus, placed second for the state with her research paper on the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Abby was further honored with a special prize for the best project related to western history. She will be representing LAHS at the NHD national competition from June 10-13, 2019 at the University of Maryland.

LAMS students Kaya Loy and Mikalh Adams will join Abby at the National NHD competition. Kaya produced a website on the forced removal of people of the Cherokee Nation from their homes in the southeastern United States; her project earned special recognition from the Western Trails Association. Mikalh performed a lively, one-man drama depicting Gavrilo Princip assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand leading to World War I. Both Kaya and Mikalh placed second in New Mexico for their categories.  

Other projects include:

• Kaisa Drew, Logan Black, Maybelle Wilson and Ashley Miller wrote and presented a dramatic performance on the Franklin Expedition to find a Northwest Passage.
• Brooklynn Scott made a documentary film on the civil rights struggle to eliminate the caste system as the nation of India gained independence from Britain.

• Anna Batista and Addy Witt produced a documentary film on the Troubles in Ireland from the 1960s to the late 1990s. Their film included interviews with Los Alamos residents who lived in Ireland and Britain during the time period.

• Joshua Posada and Adrian Will created a website on the Triumphs and Tragedies of the Korean War.