Alyssa Befumo has broken new ground for Huntington High School. The junior’s state championship award winning documentary, which she developed for this year’s National History Day competition will be showcased at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC next Wednesday afternoon.
“The Stonewall Uprising: Taking a Stand Against LGBT Inequality” won first place honors earlier this spring at the state finals in Cooperstown. Ms. Befumo will vie in the National History Day national finals at the University of Maryland at College Park next week.
The Huntington teenager’s highly regarded work will be shown at 1 p.m. during the first ever student documentary showcase in the Oprah Winfrey Theater at the National Museum of African America History.
“I’m beyond excited that my documentary was selected to be showcased at the National Museum of African American History and Culture next week,” Ms. Befumo said. “It is such an honor to be showing my work at such an important national site. I’m so thankful for this opportunity to display my project, which revolves around the fight for LGBTQ equality in a museum dedicated to the history of another major struggle for equal rights in our country.”
Huntington junior Alyssa Befumo.
“This is pretty amazing,” said Huntington social studies teacher Lauren Desiderio, who coordinates the district’s National History Day program. “It is truly an honor for Alyssa’s documentary to be chosen for this inaugural event.”
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history and culture,” according to the museum’s website. “It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become charter members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution.”