Huntington High School juniors Talia Addeo, Laurel Bonn and McKenna Buffa placed in the top ten in a field of 91 in the group website category at the National History Day championships.
The star students were honored for the website presentation of their research into “The Chinese Exclusion Act: How the Debate Over Chinese Immigration Sparked Diplomatic Tensions.” The Huntington trio had earlier won the state championship, which propelled them to the national finals.
The three juniors have been working together on National History Day projects for many years and have always developed something very special that has impressed judges.
“Looking back at our first National History Day project in eighth grade to where we are now is a testament to how far we’ve come and how hard we’ve worked,” Ms. Addeo said. “Working with my teammates all these years has been an amazing experience and I’m so proud of how we each developed not only as individuals, but as a group. It was certainly a challenge at times, but has always been gratifying in the end. This program has allowed us to hone our strengths, while also acquiring new skills which will help us greatly in the long run. I believe being able to finish as national finalists was the perfect ending to our National History Day years.”
The 2022 National History Day contest theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.”
“Finishing as national finalists in the top ten was everything we could’ve asked for in our last year competing in the National History Day contest,” Ms. Buffa said. “We are so proud of what we have accomplished as a team over the past three years and how much we have improved with every project. This contest has been part of my life since eighth grade and while it is always a challenge, it is so rewarding in the end. We are very grateful for this program and the opportunities it has given us over the years.”
Social studies teacher Kenneth Donovan mentored the trio over the past year. Social studies teacher Lauren Desiderio coordinates the National History Day program for the district.
“We are beyond proud of our final website having placed top ten in the country,” Ms. Bonn said. “It was such a great way to end our ‘National History Day careers.’ We each mastered our individual strengths by our third year so working together was very efficient. While creating a website is tedious and challenging, I love this competition. It teaches you how to adapt to new programs for websites, do intense research and work with a group.”
