For only the second time in its 46 year history, students from a Jewish day school in America were finalists in the prestigious National History competition. Manhattan Day School graduating eighth graders, Hodaya Greenwald and Leah Fishman, under the guidance of their teacher Allison Sobel, devoted their time during this very unconventional school year perfecting their project: Sesame Street, the Key to Understanding the Development of Children’s Television. The girls’ virtual exhibit board won at both the regional and the state levels before joining an elite group of junior historians from across the country in the national program. Their work placed fourth in the country, and also took home the award for best project from the state of New York!

“We are extremely proud of all our national qualifiers and their teachers,” said State Coordinator Crystal Johnson. “Completing a NHD project is a challenge during a normal school year but doing this kind of serious research during a pandemic is even more difficult. New York is fortunate to have such high-quality academic work representing our state at the National Contest.”

NHD is a nonprofit organization which seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history in grades 6-12. NHD currently engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest related to an annual theme. The 2021 theme was Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. Students presented their research as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website. Projects competed first at the local and affiliate levels. Top projects at the affiliate level were invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. Approximately 3,000 students from across the country advance to Nationals each June—67 students represented the State of New York in 2021.