Student receives history award
The National History Day (NHD) California Championship Award for Junior Individual Podcast was awarded to Scripps Ranch resident Prajna Valipireddy in Sacramento on April 21. She was a seventh grade student at Francis Parker School this year. The theme of the competition was Turning Points in History. She also won the Econ-Ed award.
Valipireddy worked on her project titled “Conquering Polio: The Disease that Immobilized America” under the guidance of her advisor Mary Ong-Dean, a member of the Social Studies Department faculty and grade 7 dean.
Her winning podcast explores the impact of polio on humans, development of vaccines and the combination of science, government, citizens and volunteers who worked to eradicate the disease from most countries.
“I was looking for a topic that was a huge turning point and I wanted it to relate to medicine because I want to explore a medical field when I grow older,” Valipireddy said.
After months of intensive research and success at county-level competitions, champions were selected and recognized at the 2024 National History Day California Contest. More than 600,000 students nationwide participate in the year-long National History Day program. This year, 1,523 students from 248 schools representing 25 counties participated in the California state contest. More than 230 historians, educators and other professionals interviewed students and evaluated their work at the competition. National History Day is an inquiry-based research project, requiring students to research a topic based on the 2024 NHD. At competitions, students present their historical argument and analysis in one of the following categories: documentary, exhibit, historical paper, performance, podcast, poster or website.