KEARNEY – Nearly 100 middle and high school students were on campus Wednesday for a history competition hosted by the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Students from Ainsworth, Bassett, Burwell, Loup City and Keya Paha County participated in the Nebraska National History Day district contest, sponsored by the UNK Department of History.
Guided by this year’s theme – “Revolution, Reaction and Reform in History” – students presented individual and group projects in categories such as performance, documentary film, interpretive website, research paper and poster exhibit. Entries were judged by UNK faculty and graduate students and other local experts.
The Kearney District competition is one of seven regional events across the state. District winners advance to the state competition scheduled for April 25 at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln. From there, students can qualify for the National History Day contest set for June 14-18 at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Established in 1985, Nebraska National History Day is a nonprofit educational program that encourages middle and high school students to conduct original research on historical topics. It’s affiliated with the National History Day contest, which started in 1974.
Kearney District winners are:
Junior Division (middle schoolers)
Group Performance
First place – Kimberlyn Doke, Isabella Pike and Sophia Schroedl of Ainsworth, “The Eradication of Polio”
Second place – Eric Lewandowski and Blake Day of Loup City, “The Revolution of the Omaha Union Stockyard”
Group Exhibit
First place – Faith Haley and MacKynzi Swett of Ainsworth, “Seneca Falls: Birthplace of the Women’s Rights Revolution”
Second place – Jeremy Santos and Alex Hensley of Loup City, “Harlem Globetrotters: The Revolution, Reactions and Reforms of Basketball”
Third place – Matthew Clingman, Kevin Gomez Nucamendi and Ty Ruhter of Ainsworth, “Nebraska’s New Deal Post Office Murals”
Individual Exhibit
First place – Ian Rossa of Loup City, “The Texas Revolution”
Second place – Cyrus Oseka of Loup City, “The Revolution of the FFA Organization”
Group Documentary
First place – Chance Ritz and Wyatt Trompke of Loup City, “Mother Bloor and the 1934 Loup City Riot; Labor Union Revolution vs. Local Reaction = Labor Reforms”
Second place – Lucas Eschliman and Bennett Rademacher of Loup City, “Revolution of College Sports”
Individual Documentary
First place – Ashton Dearmont of Bassett, “The Battle Over Butter: Revolution, Reaction & Reform in the Margarine Wars”
Second place – Myles Fatile of Ainsworth, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott”
Group Website
First place – Kallie Hruby and Beth Lewandowski of Loup City, “The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League”
Second place – Ty Obermiller and Drew Augustyn of Loup City, “Revolution, Reactions and Reforms in the Black Fives Era”
Individual Website
First place – Kevin Sherman of Loup City, “The Wounded Knee Massacre”
Research Paper
First place – Carter Cozad of Ainsworth, “The Counter-Reformation”
Senior Division (high schoolers)
Group Performance
First place – Tayler Obermiller, Grace Augustyn, Morgan Rademacher and Kaily Kurtzhals of Loup City, “Radium Girls: The Revolution, Reactions and Reforms of Industrial Safety Standards”
Individual Performance
First place – Tripp Taylor of Keya Paha County, “120 Years in the Jungle: Revolution, Reaction & Reform in America’s Meatpacking Industry”
Group Exhibit
First place – Nanaleigh Solomon and Macie Klug of Loup City, “Brown v. the Board of Education”
Second place – Conrad Kaminski and Gavin Schriner of Loup City, “John Deere and the Revolution in Agriculture”
Third place – Domanik Barnes and Kole Goc of Loup City, “The Manhattan Project”
Individual Exhibit
First place – Kylee Zulkoski of Loup City, “Kent State: Revolution, Reactions and Reforms of Student Protest”
Second place – Rea Peterson of Burwell, “Nebraska’s POW Camps”
Third place – Preston Krause of Burwell, “Richard Hart”
Group Documentary
First place – Treven Setlik and Isaac Fitzgerald of Loup City, “Shattering the Color Lines: Texas Western’s Revolution and Reforms of College Sports”
Second place – Tanley Panowicz and Dylan Rademacher of Loup City, “Walt Disney: Revolutionizing the Future of Animation”
Group Website
First place – Ashlynn Gappa and Hadley Rademacher of Loup City, “Title IX: One Law’s Revolution for Women’s Sports and the Reactions and Reforms That Followed”
Second place – Tristin Erasmus and Logan Jorgenson of Loup City, “The California Gold Rush”
Third place – Hudson Obermiller and Braxton Gallaway of Loup City, “Harlem Hellfighters”
Individual Website
First place – Dalton Stanczyk of Loup City, “Hedy Lamarr & the Revolution of Frequency Hopping”
Research Paper
First place – Sullivan Trausch of Burwell, “WWII Propaganda: Sparking Resistance, Stoking Reaction, Driving Reform”