On Saturday, March 10, 44 Parker students from the Middle and Upper School presented their projects at the San Diego History Day competition and nearly swept the awards. More than a thousand middle and high school students from across the San Diego Country came to present their projects centered around the 2017-18 National History Day theme of Conflict & Compromise in History. This year, every Parker student who competed earned recognition at the competition with 10 Middle School and 27 Upper School students advancing to the California State competition.


“We are proud of the hard work and profound learning represented by each of the projects,” said history day advisors Rob Campbell and Mary Ong-Dean, Middle School teachers, and Cherie Redelings, Upper School teacher and History Department Chair.


Parker students’ projects covered topics such as The Korean War, The Golden Age, The Antarctic Treaty of 1959, and The Cuban Missile Crisis. Students amass a mountain of research into their subjects and present their findings in a variety of ways, including museum-type exhibits, video documentaries, websites, and traditional research papers.


Their hard work earned eight special awards including two Economics Education Awards, two Best Use of Primary Sources Awards, two San Diego County Libraries’ Research Award, an Outstanding Research and Writing of History Award, and an Outstanding Website on American History Award.


The students who advanced to the California State finals will travel to Rocklin, CA in May. See below the complete list of Parker student projects.


JUNIOR DIVISION (Middle School)
9 projects, 13 students (10 students advance to State competition)
  • Aadam Awad, Class of 2022 – A Futile Compromise: Redefining the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (Jr. Historical Paper)  Advances to California State competition and Best Use of Primary Sources Award
  • Toren Andersen, Class of 2022 – The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Precedent for the Utilization of Compromise (Jr. Individual Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Natalia Wornovitzky, Class of 2023  – Puppets and Patriots: Conflict and Compromise in World War II France (Jr. Historical Paper)  Advances to California State competition
  • Sanjana Kumar, Class of 2024 – Conflicting Views on Compromise: Churchill and the Appeasement (Jr. Individual Performance) Advances to California State competition
  • Jesse Smith, Class of 2023 – From Paranoia to Peace: Reagan, Gorbachev, and the End of the Cold War (Jr. Individual Documentary) Advances to California State competition and San Diego County Libraries’ Research Award
  • Jenna Kim, Class of 2022, and Samantha Kim, Class of 2024 – Conflict and Compromise in the Korean War (Jr. Group Website) Advances to California State competition and Best Use of Primary Sources Award
  • Ari Mazow, Class of 2022, and Hayden Ghosh, Class of 2022 – Tempering Temperance: Prohibition in America (Jr. Group Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Jack Ducote, Class of 2023 – The Tip of the Iceberg: The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 (Jr. Individual Exhibit) Advances to California State competition and San Diego County Libraries’ Research Award
  • Hannah Luna, Harper Stanley, and Sophia Tyrrell-Knott, Classes of 2023 – The Berlin Wall: A City Divided, A Country Reunited (Jr. Group Exhibit) Economics Education Award
SENIOR DIVISION (High School)
20 projects, 31 students (27 students advance to State competition)
  • Elias Jinich, Class of 2018; Avi Waldman, Class of 2018; Gabriel Jinich, Class of 2020; and Neusha Kharrati, Class of 2020 – Nixon and Brezhnev: Conflict & Compromise in the Nuclear Age (Sr. Group Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Jacob Brittain, Class of 2019 – The Golden Age of Conflict and Compromise: Piracy in the Caribbean (Sr. Individual Exhibit) Advances to California State competition
  • Zachary Braner and Davis Kedrosky, Classes of 2019 – To the Janiculum! Plebeian Secession and the Lex Hortensia (Sr. Group Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Cleo Chaplin and Adam Nussbaum, Classes of 2019 – The Third World Liberation Front: Conflict and Compromise (Sr. Group Documentary) Advances to California State competition
  • Maya and Sonali Chu, Classes of 2019 – Japan’s Peace Bid, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki (Sr. Group Exhibit) Advances to California State competition
  • Vicky Comunale and Jeyan Kirtay, Class of 2019 – The Treaty of Versailles (Sr. Group Exhibit) Advances to California State competition
  • Eleanor Hansen, Class of 2019 – The Wrong Thing for the Right Reason: Operation Paperclip’s Moral Compromise (Sr. Individual Documentary) Advances to California State competition
  • Sahana Kumar, Class of 2019 – The Yalta Conference: Excessive Compromise Paving the Path for Increased Conflict (Sr. Individual Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Emily Park, Class of 2019 – Flames of Conflict, Embers of Compromise: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Sr. Individual Exhibit) Advances to California State competition and Economics Education Award
  • Alex Tchang, Class of 2019 – North Korea (Sr. Individual Paper) Advances to California State competition and Outstanding Research and Writing of History Award
  • Luke Tchang, Class of 2019 – Deng Xiaoping: Balancing Development and Democracy (Sr. Individual Website) Advances to California State competition
  • Cate Hasler, Class of 2020 – The Geneva Conventions of 1949 (Sr. Individual Exhibit) Advances to California State competition
  • Aadi Miglani, Class of 2020 – Conflicted Times and Shakespearean Compromise (Sr. Individual Performance) Advances to California State competition
  • Pallavi Murthy, Class of 2020 – Compromise to End Conflict: South Africa’s Transition to Democracy (Sr. Historical Paper) Advances to California State competition
  • Elsa Baumgartner and Adelyn Phillips, Classes of 2021 – A Wardrobe at War: Compromise in Fashion (Sr. Senior Group Exhibit) Advances to California State competition
  • Liam Brownlie, Ian Lillie, and Ollie Pai, Classes of 2021 – Stopping the Chain Reaction: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Sr. Group Documentary) Advances to California State competition
  • Katharina Hass, Class of 2021 – Christmas Truce: Compromise in War (Sr. Individual Performance) Advances to California State competition
  • Matthew McGrath, Class of 2019 – Inquires into Ignoble Victories (Sr. Historical Paper) Honorable Mention
  • Nicolas del Rio, Will Murray, and Henry Gray, Classes of 2020 – The Dayton Accords: A Compromise For Peace (Sr. Group Website) Honorable Mention andOutstanding Website on American History Award