As part of this year’s National History Day, a national research competition that challenges students to think and work like historians, Branson students are digging into topics from sports labor rights to the history of refrigerators.
NHD allows students to explore a topic of their choice through formats such as documentaries, podcasts, research papers, websites, exhibits or performances, all connected to an annual theme.
“[The competition] starts at the level of a school and then works its way up to a national competition that happens at the University of Maryland every year,” said history teacher and NHD co-faculty adviser Malik Ali.
The competition unfolds over several stages throughout the spring, with students refining their work at each step. Students are currently preparing projects for the California state competition in Sacramento this May.
“Each year, the competition revolves around a national theme that guides students’ research while still allowing them to choose their own topics. This year’s theme is Revolution, Reaction, and Reform. The theme creates a structure, but the topic is really up to the student,” said history teacher and NHD co-faculty adviser Talia di Manno. “The more niche the topic is, the better, because it allows students to really dig deeply into it and discover primary and secondary sources that will help them make a unique historical argument.”
That flexibility has led Branson students to pursue a wide range of topics.
“We have students doing projects about the farm-to-table movement, about the rise of conservative groups in the seventies and eighties, about female authors, about the Russian Revolution,” di Manno said. “There’s even a project about the Cold Revolution: the emergence of refrigerators as a technology.”
Ali emphasized that, beyond the theme and research process, the judges’ criteria gets personal.
“One of the really important things in the National History Day competition that they emphasize is student voice,” Ali said. “When students communicate their perspective and point of view in a way that comes across as authentic, that really matters to the project.”
At Branson, participation in the competition has been growing. While students occasionally entered in previous years, the school has only recently developed a more organized program.
“In our current structured way, it’s been the last two years,” Ali said. “Before that, it was usually just a student here or there who we’d help sponsor to go to National History Day.”
This year, nine Branson students are competing and currently revising their projects ahead of the state competition.
“A really cool thing about National History Day is its emphasis on process,” Ali said. “If students advance at each level, they get to revise their project based on feedback and continue to polish it.”
Branson students have already seen some success in recent years. Last year, Ashley Wang ’26 came close to qualifying for the national competition.
“Ashley was the state runner-up in the individual documentary category last year,” Ali said. “She was literally one spot away from going to Maryland. Her project actually gave her the opportunity to speak at the state capitol last fall based on her work. Sometimes these projects can have a life beyond the National History Day competition.”
For the advisers, however, the competition’s biggest value lies in the intellectual skills students develop through the research process.
“Students are creating their own historical question, finding primary and secondary sources, and analyzing those sources through the lens of the theme,” di Manno said. “They’re doing really high-level critical thinking that prepares them for university-level research and beyond.”
The competition is also intentionally interdisciplinary, encouraging students to explore historical questions connected to other interests and academic fields.
“History really touches on every area of student interest,” di Manno said. “If you care about sports, medicine, physics, music, or fashion, there are so many historical topics you could explore.”
Ali said the collaborative atmosphere of the state competition is another highlight for students who participate.
“Every student I’ve gone with to Sacramento has loved the experience,” Ali said. “You’re in this environment with students from all over the state, seeing the incredible projects people have created and sharing ideas. It’s really inspiring.”
For students considering entering the competition in the future, both advisors had a simple message.
“This competition is a way for students who are passionate about something to really take a deep dive into it and get even more excited about something they already care about,” di Manno said.
