District triumphs at Florida History Day competition
May 6, 2020
Pinellas County Schools had its strongest showing ever at the annual competition.
Fifteen Pinellas projects ranked in the top three in their categories. First- and second-place winners will compete nationally. Twelve Pinellas projects will progress to the national competition.
Project winners came from Largo High School, St. Petersburg High School, Tarpon Springs High School, Dunedin Highland Middle School, East Lake Middle School and Plato Academy-Tarpon Springs.
For the second year in a row, Pinellas had a state Teacher of Merit winner. This year’s winner is Deborah Pettingill of Largo High School. The award honors exemplary commitment to helping students develop their interest in history and recognizing their achievements.
Two projects won special awards. Palm Harbor University High School’s project won "Best Use of Primary Sources" and Dunedin Highland Middle School’s project, Ironclads of the Civil War: Pioneering the Path to U.S. Naval Superiority, earned a second-place Maritime History Award.
Because of the current health crisis, the competition was held virtually. PCS tripled the number of projects that were state winners over last year and almost doubled the number of students moving on to National History Day, which will be held virtually-next month.
The following Pinellas teachers and students received awards at the 2020 Florida History Day state competition:
Junior Historical Paper
1st Place
Prisha Sherdiwala
Breaking Barriers with a Handful of Salt: The Salt Movement of 1930
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom
Senior Historical Paper
1st Place
Victor Xie
Breaking Barriers to Provide Food, Freedom, and a Future: The Berlin Airlift’s Quest to Beat the Blockade
St. Petersburg High School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Angela Hack
Junior Individual Documentary
3rd Place
Larissa Samson
Helen Keller A Blind Visionary: Breaking Barriers through Societal Change
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom
Junior Group Documentary
1st Place
Reagan Fitzgerald, Raegan Matthews
Operation Breaking Gender Barriers: The Hello Girls in WWI
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teachers: Teresa Bergstrom
Senior Individual Documentary
1st Place
Emily Hayes
One Small Step, One Giant Leap: The Groundbreaking Flight of Apollo 11
Tarpon Springs High School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Joshua Armstrong
Junior Group Performance
1st Place
Vasilios Stathopoulos, Marina Stathopoulos
Breaking the Barriers of Pain and Inequality: Frida Kahlo -Revolutionary Artist, Political Activist & Cultural IconPlato Academy Tarpon Springs (Pinellas)
Teacher: Andreas Mandelos
2nd Place
Charles Wain-Nye, Mackenzie Wallace
Breaking Barriers Out of Left Field: The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teachers: Teresa Bergstrom
Senior Individual Performance
2nd Place
Evelyn Colon
Fanny Hensel: The Mendelssohn Family's Hidden Figure
Largo High School (Pinellas)
Teachers: David Koehler
3rd Place
Elise Tong
Soong Mei-ling: Breaking the Barriers Between Women and Politics
Largo High School (Pinellas)
Teachers: David Koehler
Junior Individual Exhibit
3rd Place
Morgen Leithe
Hedy Lamarr: Hollywood Beauty Invents Innovative Technology
East Lake Middle School Academy of Engineering (Pinellas)
Teacher: Oren Schlierer
Junior Group Exhibit
1st Place
Vasili Makryllos, Michalia Makryllos
John Gorrie: Ice, Ice Baby!
Plato Academy Charter School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Andreas Mandelos
Junior Individual Website
2nd Place
Austin Vo
Overcoming Barriers in a Journey to Equality: The 1961 Freedom Riders
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom
Senior Group Website
1st Place
Mia Marcotte, Sara Picking
The Human Genome Project
Largo High School (Pinellas)
Teacher: David Koehler
