Valley Middle Students Advance to National History Day Nationals

Valley Middle School eighth grade students, Avisha Thakkar and Thomas Halloran, are New Jersey State Finalists in the New Jersey National History Day Competition and will travel to Washington, DC, on June 15 -18 to represent New Jersey in the individual exhibit and the individual documentary categories of the National Competition.

Students who qualified in the regional competition advanced to the State finals, which was held at William Paterson University, and they presented their research on this year's theme, "Conflict and Compromise in History." Quite impressive was the breadth and depth of our students' research, as well as how far beyond the borders of Oakland their efforts took them.

Thomas Halloran created an extraordinary ten minute documentary on the history of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). He began his research at the University of Delaware, and his research included interviews with Senator Menendez, a nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace, the Press Officer of the CND in the United Kingdom, and a representative of the Nuclear Security Administration, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Avisha Thakkar designed “13 Seconds-4 dead in Ohio,” an exhibit about the Kent State Massacre. Avisha traveled to Kent State University in Ohio to conduct her research. She interviewed a victim who was shot in the conflict, and conducted telephone interviews with witnesses, wounded protesters, National Guardspeople, and the chief counsel for the victims and their families.

In addition, Matt Whittle, Colin Whittle, and Monica Chung were selected as alternates in the group exhibit division. Their exhibit focused on the New Jersey Highlands Act.

The students were coached by their teacher, Ms. Judith Vihonski. This is the fourth year that VMS has participated in the contest. Each year the Valley Middle School has had winners who advance to the National Competition.

National History Day is the largest history education program in the country whose mission is to provide students with opportunities to learn historical content and develop research, thinking and communication skills through the study of history.