St. Mary’s County History Day Highlights Student Research, Projects And Creativity

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — About a dozen students from across St. Mary’s County presented original research projects Saturday at the Leonardtown Library as part of the annual History Day competition organized by Historic Sotterley.

Students showcased exhibits, documentaries and research papers, all tied to this year’s theme, “Revolution, Reaction and Reform in History.”

The event was part of the National History Day program, where local winners can advance to state and national competitions.

Participants represented Father Andrew White School, St. Mary’s Ryken High School, Leonardtown Middle School and Leonardtown High School. The annual competition is open to all St. Mary’s County students, including public, private and homeschooled students.

“This is a way to engage students with history through hands-on, interactive means,” said Catherine Humphries, interpretive programs manager for Historic Sotterley and the county coordinator for the contest.

Projects covered a wide range of topics, including environmental movements, intelligence agencies, women’s rights and the pursuit of equality for African American and Indigenous communities.

Now in its ninth year locally, the competition is open to students in grades four through 12 and continues to grow as more schools participate.

According to Historic Sotterley materials, the program is designed to build research, critical thinking and presentation skills while encouraging students to explore topics that interest them. 

Students were evaluated by judges through interviews and project reviews, with top entries eligible to advance to the state competition in Baltimore and potentially the national contest in College Park.

History Day Empowers Students Through Passion-Driven Research And Real-World Themes

Sarah Conners, a social studies teacher at Father Andrew White School and serves as the history fair chair. She said St. Mary’s County History Day gives students an opportunity to explore history through topics they are personally interested in, helping them better understand how change happens.

“This is an opportunity for students to take the theme and explore different areas of history,” Conners said. “Then examine what the immediate reaction was and how it had long-term reform in our society.” 

Conners said the program encourages students to connect broad historical themes — such as this year’s theme, “revolution, reaction and reform” — to real-world examples, including culture, science and everyday life, rather than focusing solely on major wars or political events.

“Revolutions aren’t always happening on a battlefield,” Conners said. “They’re happening in our homes, on our ball fields and within small towns.”

The approach helps students see how smaller, individual actions can lead to meaningful long-term change, making history more relevant and accessible. Conners said students are often surprised with what they learn.

“It’s lighting a spark in these students and forcing them to think about history and the way they can impact it,” Conners said.

Conners also emphasized that the program is open to a wide range of participants, including students, homeschoolers and families, and drives curiosity and deep research through hands-on learning.

St. Mary’s Ryken history teacher Leif Liberg said History Day allows students to explore topics they are passionate about while connecting those interests to broader historical themes.

“The beauty of this program is that within the context of the theme, the kids can pick pretty much any topic in history they want,” Liberg said. 

Liberg, who has nearly two decades of experience as a teacher, said his role is primarily to guide and mentor students through the research process, helping them develop critical academic skills such as sourcing materials and building annotated bibliographies — tools that prepare them for college-level work.

“I’m not there to tell them what to do. I’m there to guide and mentor,” Liberg said.

Liberg also emphasized the importance of historical understanding in interpreting current events, noting that programs like History Day and organizations like Historic Sotterley help connect past events to present-day realities.

“You can’t hope to understand what’s happening in the world right now if you don’t understand what happened before,” Liberg said. “History helps us understand how our county has taken shape over time and where we are now.”

Students Bring History To Life Through Research And Personal Connection

William Conners, a seventh-grade student at Leonardtown Middle School, explored how public perception of nuclear power has shifted over time, tracing its evolution from early optimism to fear and, more recently, renewed interest as an energy solution.

“My project is about how the public and media perceived atomic power from when they first found it all the way to around the 21st century,” Conners said.

Conners’ project examined how media and culture have shaped those perceptions, from early portrayals of nuclear energy as futuristic and beneficial to later depictions influenced by disasters like Chernobyl, which fueled public concern and skepticism.

“They thought it was the future of technology, and there were ideas about nuclear-powered vacuums and nuclear-powered cars,” Conners said. “After Chernobyl, people feared it and they didn’t really want to use it anymore.”

Conners said modern perspectives on nuclear energy are shifting again, as concerns about fossil fuels and sustainability drive renewed discussion about its potential role in the future.

“Now people have realized fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever,” Conners said. “So people want nuclear power back.”

Molly Filippini, eighth-grade student from Father Andrew White School, showcased her exhibit, “Pitch Perfect: The Revolution That Changed Women’s Sports,” which examined the International Girls Baseball League and its influence on the development of women’s sports. She said she chose the topic because she is a softball player and because her aunt, Lou Fisci, played in the league, which competed in places including Florida, Cuba, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

“It not only helped develop softball, but it also helped develop women’s sports,” Filippini said. “My Aunt Lou actually played for the league, and I really just wanted to learn about the league she played for and how it really just changed sports today.”

Drawing on articles, photos and family history, Filippini connected her aunt’s experience to the broader story of how women’s participation in baseball during World War II helped expand athletic opportunities for future generations.

“It proved that women could play at the same level as men,” Filippini said.

Madeline Gidley, an eighth-grade student from Father Andrew White School, exhibited “Trails Forged by Force: Revolution, Reaction and Reform of the Potawatomi Nation,” which explored the 1838 “Trail of Death,” a 660-mile forced relocation of the Potawatomi people from Indiana to Kansas under the Indian Removal Act.

“It was really harsh treatment — 859 people went on the journey, and 42 died, and 28 of those were children,” Gidley said. “As they were leaving their homes, their crops were set on fire, so when they looked back, everything they knew was in flames.”

Gidley said she was drawn to the topic through her interest in Native American history and a personal connection to Indiana, where her family is from and where key sites tied to the Potawatomi remain. Her project focused on both the conditions of the journey and the lasting resilience of the Potawatomi people.

“I’ve been to these places,” Gidley said. “I didn’t really know the history behind it, so I wanted to learn more.”

Caroline Wright, a junior from St. Mary’s Ryken High School, said her project examines the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War and its role in gathering intelligence on foreign governments.

“It started because the president wanted something like a daily report on other countries, so he knew how to react during the Cold War,” Wright said.

Wright focused on how the agency evolved from earlier organizations into a centralized system designed to inform U.S. leadership and counter the spread of communism, while also examining how its role continues today.

“I found it really interesting that some of the original documents are public, but a lot of it is still redacted,” Wright said. “The CIA is still around today, and it helps keep the country safe, so it was interesting to see how it all started.”

Student Research Papers Explore Culture, Politics And Social Change

Leonardtown High School 11th grader Cheyenne Coleman’s paper, “The American Reform of Menstrual Advertisements from 1918 to Present Day,” analyzed how multimedia and advertising around menstruation has evolved alongside major social movements, including the rise of women in the workforce and the feminist movement.

“In the beginning, the advertisements didn’t even show the product or mention menstruation — they just said, ‘feminine sanitary,’ because secrecy was such a big social standard,” Coleman said. “As time went on, they started using the word ‘period,’ and the messaging became a lot more open, especially with the feminism movements.”

By examining ads across five eras, Coleman traced a shift from secrecy and euphemism to more open, scientific and visual representations, reflecting changing cultural attitudes toward women’s health in media, the workplace and social discourse. She said sharing the history of menstrual communications gives some perspective to how male-dominated media used to shadow femininity.

“It went from a tight-knit, private topic into a more open discussion,” Coleman said. “It’s already kind of a taboo topic, so sharing how much it’s changed over time is really interesting because people don’t realize how much we’ve advanced.”

Audrey Hupp, St. Mary’s Ryken High School 11th-grade student, wrote a paper titled “The Rock and Roll Revolution,”which focused on how the emergence of rock and roll reshaped youth culture in post-World War II America, breaking down social and racial barriers while transforming music and self-expression.

“Rock and roll changed youth culture and helped break down racial barriers, bringing people together during a time of segregation,” Hupp said.

Hupp’s research highlighted how the genre drew from jazz, blues and African American musical traditions, creating an energetic and unifying sound that influenced both culture and community.

“Musicians took from jazz and blues and added more energy and soul, and it created a whole new style of music,” Hupp said. “It gave young people a way to show their personalities instead of just following that rigid structure of what they should be.”

Leonardtown High School senior Zachary Alexander’s paper, “Cultural Reactions to the European Military Revolution: A Comparative Case Study,” analyzed how different societies responded to the rise of gunpowder warfare and new fortification designs.

“I looked at two sieges — one adapted and integrated the new technology, and the other kind of stayed traditional, and that really affected the long-term outcome.” 

Alexander compared sieges in China and New Zealand and explored how one culture adapted and integrated new military strategies while another remained largely unchanged, highlighting how technological shifts in fortification design shaped long-term outcomes in conflict.

“Gunpowder weapons were so effective that they forced a complete shift in how forts were designed, like the star-shaped forts built to deflect impact,” Alexander said.

Leonardtown High School sophomore Cooper Pleasants’s paper, “How the Chinese Cultural Revolution Contributed to the Fall of the Soviet Union,”looked at the shifting relationship between China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

“China and the Soviet Union started with a strong relationship, but they began to diverge because of different ways communism was practiced,” Pleasants said. 

Pleasants focused on how ideological differences and the resurgence of communist ideals and loyalty to Mao Zedong during China’s Cultural Revolution strained relations between the two communist powers, contributing to Soviet isolation and long-term economic decline.

“The Cultural Revolution brought back those original differences, which made political tensions worse and further isolated the Soviets,” Pleasants said. “I thought it would be one-sided, like China isolating itself, but it was actually mutual — they kind of outgrew each other.”

History Day Documentaries Examine Democracy, Civil Rights And Social Change Through Film

St. Mary’s Ryken juniors Julia Dzialoski and Brandon Spence’s documentary, “The Voice That Can’t Be Silenced,” focused on the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth, highlighting her role in both abolition and the fight for women’s rights during the Civil War era.

“We wanted to combine something that we both connect with, so we focused on abolition and feminism through Sojourner Truth,” Dzialoski said. 

Their project explored Truth’s activism — from escaping slavery and winning a court case to free her son, to advocating for abolition and women’s rights — while emphasizing the continued relevance of her message today.

“She fought for both rights, even going to court to save her son and then continuing to advocate for equality,” Spence said.

Both Dzialoski and Spence said combining their projects proved valuable, because they gained new insights from each other’s research beyond what they discovered individually.

St. Mary’s Ryken juniors Trent Williams and Ryan Gilmore’s documentary, “Cleisthenes and the Rise of Athenian Democracy,”explored the origins of democracy in ancient Athens and how political power shifted from elite families to the broader population.

“We wanted to do something political and look at where it all started, especially with everything going on today,” Williams said. 

The pair examined how Cleisthenes restructured the Athenian government by distributing power among citizens, laying the foundation for modern democratic systems. 

“Cleisthenes saw there was a struggle in Athens, so he shifted power from wealthy families to the people and let citizens have a voice,” Gilmore said. 

They said the project was driven by a shared interest in politics and a desire to better understand how giving people a voice can shape government.

“It’s important to understand history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes,” Gilmore said.

Top Projects Advance As Winners Announced At St. Mary’s County History Day

Top student projects from Saturday’s competition will advance to the Maryland History Day state contest, with the opportunity to compete at the national level. Organizers said the event continues to grow each year, drawing increased participation from students exploring history through research, creativity and personal connection.

First-place winners included Julia Dzialoski and Brandon Spence for their documentary, “Overcoming Abolition and Sexism,” and Madeline Gidley for her exhibit, “Trails Forged by Force: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform of the Potawatomi Nation.” Cheyenne Coleman earned first place in the paper category for “The American Reform of Menstrual Product Advertisements.”

Second-place honors went to Ryan Gilmore and Trent Williams for their documentary, “Cleisthenes and the Athenian Democracy,” Molly Filippini for her exhibit, “Pitch Perfect: The Revolution that Changed Women’s Sports,” and Zachary Alexander for his paper, “The Cultural Reactions to European Military Revolution.”

Additional awards recognized standout projects across categories. Dzialoski and Spence received the UCAC Award, Alexander earned the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum Award, and Coleman was presented with the Historic Sotterley Award.

Organizers said the continued success of the program reflects a growing interest in hands-on history education, giving students the opportunity to connect classroom learning with real-world research and storytelling.

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