At the end of April, Prospect Ridge Academy High School had 15 students participate in the Colorado National History Day State competition on April 25 at the University of Colorado Denver campus.
National History Day in Colorado is a social studies and literacy program that equips students in elementary, middle, and high school with the skills necessary to succeed in college and the real world. Students participate in a project-based learning curriculum that emphasizes critical reading and thinking, research, analysis, and the drawing of meaningful conclusions.
PRA received a number of notable performances, including:
Sophomore Ethan Montoya and Lily Hyser made finals for their senior group documentary titled "Walt's World War."
Luke Haynes, junior, made finals for his senior paper titled "American Deism: The Forgotten Revolution.”
Corina Teufel won a Colorado 150 Civics Award for her senior paper titled, "Reforming Censorship in Schools: How Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico (1982) Transformed the Practice of Banning Books".
Robert Bliss won a Colorado 150 Civics Award for his senior paper titled "Tinker v. Des Moines: A Revolution in Student Speech and How it Affects the Future".
These students were all joined by sophomores Nicolas Jasiewicz, Carys Fund, Emily McKenney, Stephanie Milter, Bailey Ki, Delaney Fessler, Kate MacGuire, Cam Clark, Ayla Rosas, and Sasha Gudise in competition.
In addition to the PRA students’ success, high school social studies teacher, Michael Storer, was awarded the NHDC Teacher of the Year for the Senior division. He will now be nominated for NHD National Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in June at the national competition hosted by the University of Maryland.
