Solana Ranch students win top honors in state History Day contest

Students from Solana Ranch Elementary School had great success in this year’s National History Day competition. An impressive 10 separate research teams from Solana Ranch won their category at the San Diego County competition and earned the opportunity to compete against 1,500 of the very best student researchers from across the state at the History Day finals in Sacramento April 15-16.

Solana Ranch fourth graders Raina Kim, Sia Kwon and Elan Leem were named the state champions for their winning research project titled “1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill: A Turning Point in Coastal Protection.”

National History Day is an academic competition where students across the country conduct an historical research project on a common theme—this year’s theme was “Turning Points in History.” Over a three-month period, students carried out in-depth research, exploring primary sources while accessing specialized archives and library special collections and interviewing expert academics in their particular field of study. They were led by teacher Jordan Einbinder.

At the National History Day contest in Sacramento, fourth graders Talia Tabarsi and Nilah Bertaud were named runners-up for their project “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: A Turning Point in Factory Safety Standards.”

Fifth grader Ashton Phillips won runner-up for his research project titled “Battle of Saratoga: A Turning Point the Lifter Moral and Engaged France.”

Sixth graders Kaelyn Dow, Karissa Luo, Stella Popova and Elena Zhu were also runner-ups for their project, The Social Security Act: A Turning Point in the Economy and the Government’s Relationship with Individuals.”

Other San Diego County History Day winners from Solana Ranch who competed in Sacramento include Ellyn Park for her research and website on the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; Jay Ryu, Elliot Park and Ryan Kim for their podcast on the invention of the cash register; Cadence Rowden for her poster on The Space Race; Xiangyu Du, Jiho Lee and Samarth Sharma for their website about The Antitrust Acts; Minwoo Tak, Ian Park and Michelle Park for their project on the sinking of the Lusitania; and Chloe Cameron for her research on The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Students who earned honorable mentions at the San Diego County level include Joshua Hsu, Sio Lee, Aiden Smith, Alex Gao, Olivia Liu, Catherine Seo, Elizabeth Li and Arna Sinha.