Sedgwick Middle School QUEST students as well as students from West Hartford’s Conard High School had great success at the Connecticut State History Day contest held at Central Connecticut State University.

By Ronni Newton

Students from West Hartford participated in the Connecticut State History Day Contest held May 3, 2025 at Central Connecticut State University, presenting projects that they have been working on for months related to the 2025 theme which was “Rights & Responsibilities in History.”

The students’ work was “truly exceptional,” according to Sedgwick Middle School QUEST Teacher David Lee, who coached and mentored his participating students.

“These projects are labors of love,” Lee said in an email. “Students have been working on them, researching, refining arguments, and constantly editing their work for months, and in many cases for the majority of the school year. Every single student poured their hearts into these projects and they truly represent the pinnacle of research-based passion projects in the state of Connecticut. That might sound like hyperbole – but ask any one of these students about the amount of work and effort that went into their projects, and you’ll very quickly find out the level of their expertise on their subjects.”

Sedgwick QUEST students

Junior Individual Documentary

• Dharini Luthra: Fighting Against Barbed Wire: Japanese-American Internment During World War II
• Kamran Batchelder: The Price of Power: How the U.S. Left an Indelible Mark on the Lives of Veterans and Marshall Islanders

Junior Group Documentary

• Krish Dhingra and Alex Erickson: Strong-Willed Fighters: How the Woman’s Relief Corps Fought for Post-Civil War Equal Rights

Junior Individual Exhibit

• Anna Pax Small: Do With Less-So They’ll Have Enough: How U.S. Rationing in World War II Called Upon Americans to Sacrifice Personal Freedoms for the Greater Good
• Annabelle Brooks: Equal Responsibilities, Unequal Rights: The Female Codebreakers of World War II

Junior Research Paper

• Emilie Mathieu: The Montgomery Bus Boycott: How Black Citizens Took the Responsibility to Have Their Rights Acknowledged

Emilie Mathieu. Courtesy photo

Conard students

Senior Individual Documentary

• Luke Kalke: ” I Hope One Day You’ll Join Us and the World Will Live as One”: The Consequences of the United States’ Failure to Ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Senior Individual Exhibit

• Neila Feeney: From Frontlines to Headlines: One Woman’s Right to Serve and Responsibility to Protect

Emilie Mathieu’s research paper on the Montgomery Bus Boycott earned a special prize in the category of “Outstanding Entry Related to Social Justice Issues,” Lee noted.

From left: Kamran Batchelder, Dharini Luthra , Anna Pax Small. Courtesy photo

Dharini Luthra’s documentary, “Fighting Against Barbed Wire: Japanese-American Internment During World War II” won first prize in the category of “Junior Individual Documentary,” while Kamran Batchelder took second place in the same category for “The Price of Power: How the U.S. Left an Indelible Mark on the Lives of Veterans and Marshall Islanders.”

Anna Pax Small was a second place winner in the category of “Junior Individual Exhibit” for her project featuring rationing during World War II.

Conard student Luke Kale won first place in the “Senior Individual Documentary” category for his documentary, “‘I Hope One Day You’ll Join Us and the World Will Live as One’: The Consequences of the United States’ Failure to Ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

The students who placed first or second in their divisions will go on to represent the State of Connecticut at the National History Day competition, which will be held June 8-12 at the University of Maryland.

Lee praised all of the students, and noted that the “National History Day Contest is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to see work from and meet students from around the country who are just as passionate as they are about their topics and being young, dynamic historians.”

Sadly, however, Lee noted that due to the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities federal grant program, which funds a major portion of the National History Day program, the future of the 50-year-old contest is in jeopardy for future years.

“There was a huge nationwide outpouring of support that has allowed this year’s National Contest to continue as planned. However, the future of the National History Day program is very much up in the air now. If you or anyone you know are interested in supporting this incredible opportunity for students across the country through donation or just learning about this amazing program, click here to see more information from National History Day,” Lee shared.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.