News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Historical Society announces students have been selected to advance to the National History Day in Indiana State Contest after the Northwest region contest on Saturday, Feb. 18. The finalists include students from Edgewood Middle School and Culver Academies.

Northwest region finalists for the NHDI Contest include:

• Junior Individual Website: “The First Modern Battleship” — Owen Aukeman (Edgewood Middle School)
• Junior Individual Performance: “The Frontier of Electric Lights” — Kevin Gough (Edgewood Middle School)
• Senior Paper: “The Green Cultural Frontier” — Aidan Zhang (Culver Academies)
• Senior Paper: “Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek’s Speech to Congress: A New Frontier in the Sino-American Relationship, Race and Gender” — Yuqi Zheng (Culver Academies)
• Senior Paper: “Jazz Diplomacy: Use of Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy During the Cold War” — Aidan Wang (Culver Academies)
• Senior Individual Website: “Cost of Expanding Frontier: Chinese Laborers in the Construction of the Transcontinental Railroads” — Bowen Xiao (Culver Academies)
• Senior Individual Documentary: “‘The Ping Heard Round the World’: Nixon’s Trip to China” — Heng Xu Shen (Culver Academies)
• Senior Group Documentary: “A Thousand Deaths’ of Anna May Wong: Crossing the Frontier from Yellow Peril to Hollywood Star” — Jishen Gao, Xichen Wang and Zitong Zhou (Culver Academies)

Approximately 173 students took part in Saturday’s contest, with finalists advancing to the 2023 NHDI State Contest, which will be held April 22 at Marian University, Indianapolis.

NHDI is a yearlong program dedicated to enhancing history education in Indiana’s schools. Students in grades four through 12 explore a historical subject that fits under the annual theme. This year’s theme is “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.” Students use their research to create a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website. To reach the 2023 NHDI State Contest, students must qualify at one of six regional contests.

For a list of Northwest region contest finalists, including student names, school names, project categories and project names, visit: NHDI Northwest Region Finalists.

NHDI is a project-based, inquiry-based program which encourages students to explore their own passions by conducting research, developing research questions and exhibiting their individual learning styles through the creation of exhibits, documentaries, performances, papers and websites.

NHDI is presented by the Rooker Family Foundation with support from the Vigran Family Foundation. For more information, visit www.indianahistory.org/historyday or call (317) 232-1882.