Five U-High students qualified for the National History Day finals, which will take place in Washington, D.C., on June 11–15. The students who qualified include senior Jade Deng and juniors Andrew Pincus, Mahi Shah, Kaavya Shriram and Alice Fan.

Last year, the contest was held virtually because of the pandemic, but this year, it will be held again in-person. 

Jade was pleasantly surprised that she qualified for the finals and said that the best part was knowing that other people care about her topic. Jade wrote her essay about leaded gasoline, how it was commercialized despite its toxicity, and how scientist Alice Hamilton fought for government regulations to protect the public.

“It’s really gratifying to know that people appreciate my project, especially since I wrote about a topic that I really care about and wish more people were familiar with,” Jade said. 

Jade thinks the advice she would give to a younger student who wanted to win the competition would be to pursue a topic they actually want to research and not what they think might be successful.

“Pick a topic you’re passionate about, even if it doesn’t seem history related at first,” Jade said, “Most likely, there’s a story or person or idea related to it that is worth researching.”

History teacher Cindy Jurisson said the best part of watching her students win the award over the years is seeing them realize their potential and be pleased with their achievements. 

Dr. Jurisson said, “The thing I most like is when I see kids be so proud of what they’ve accomplished, and I’m always really proud of what they put together.”