Knightly News

Episcopal students delivered an impressive performance at the regional National History Day Competition that was held at the West Baton Rouge museum in Port Allen on Thursday, February 16. A group of twenty-five Episcopal students competed in a variety of categories, with sixteen students winning awards and advancing to the state competition to be held in April.

Junior Olivia Melancon won first place for individual exhibit for an exhibit titled “Pacific Seafarers”. Eleventh grader Londyn Godley won second place for an individual exhibit titled “Chinese Women Breaking Stereotypes.” Tenth grader Silas Hall won third place for an exhibit on telescopes. Tenth grader Marin Field won fourth place for an exhibit on “The Vaqueros.” Carlos Thomas was recognized with first place in the individual website category for “Haiti: Riches to Rags.”

Tenth graders Will Ribes and Preston Treadaway won second place in the senior group exhibit category for an exhibit on the capture of Osama bin Laden. Tenth graders Anna Yale, Emily Pearson, and Gabby Plain won third place for an exhibit titled “Coco Chanel.” Sophomores John Sessums and John Singer won fourth place for a group exhibit on Blitzkrieg. 

Tenth graders Carson Coghlan, David Olinde, and Laith Badawi won in the group documentary category for a documentary titled “Man on Mars.” Sophomore Harrison Whittemore won first place in the individual documentary for the “Moon Landing of 1969.”

In the research paper category, ninth grader Timothy Namikas earned first place for a paper titled “Wangari Maathai: How a Peasant Girl Expanded New Frontiers in Environmental History.” Senior Madison Cummins won second place for “Ancient China: A Frontier for Queer Culture and History”. Eleventh grader Risley Elliott won fourth place for “The Battle of Little Bighorn and Its Impacts for the Native Americans Who Were There.”

In the morning, students presented their work to outside judges. In the afternoon students could explore the museum and participate in a history bee, with questions on Louisiana, national and world history. Students also had an opportunity to learn woodworking skills from volunteers at the museum and several students made birdhouses. 

The afternoon history bee included three rounds of competition. The final of three rounds included only Episcopal students: Marin Field, Preston Treadaway, Nicholas Smallwood, Risley Elliott, and Timothy Namikas. Smallwood came in third place, Elliott earned second, and Namikas came in first.

Participants in the NHD competition included ninth grader Timothy Namikas, and a large contingent of tenth graders: Joss Anderson, Laith Badawi, Noah Beckman, Reece Burnett, Carson Coghlan, Samuel Ethridge, Dylan Evans, Marin Field, Wilt Haynes, Silas Hall, Abigail Henry, Lily Legnon, Neff Neumann, David Olinde, Emily Pearson, Gabby Plain, William Ribes, Nate Roberie, John Brady Sessums, John Hart Singer, John Schilling Staley, Charles Starnes, Preston Treadaway, Harrison Whitemore, Anna Kate Yale and Yaseen Zaid. Additional participants included eleventh graders Risley Elliott, Londyn Godley, Olivia Melancon, and Nicholas Smallwood as well as senior Madison Cummins.

Ms. Anita Gilmore joined me in chaperoning the students. The students participating in the National History Day competition had been working on research projects in our tenth grade US History classes or in my elective on Non-Western Civilizations. As chair of the Global and Social Studies department, Dr. Rebecca Kuhn organized the field trip. 

The regional competition winners will have an opportunity to compete at the state National History Day competition, which will take place on Saturday, April 15 at the World War II Museum in New Orleans. Episcopal alums Wilson Russ, class of 2019, and Alex Nelson, class of 2021, have advanced to the national competition, which is held each year in Washington, D.C. in June. 

Dr. Edwin Way

Dr. Edwin Way is an Upper School social studies teacher.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics with high honors from Swarthmore College as well as a Master of Arts in East Asian studies from the University of Oregon. In addition, he completed a PhD in political science from Indiana University, Bloomington. He grew up overseas living in Egypt, Burkina Faso and Denmark, and worked and taught for a number of years in China. Edwin has taught at both the secondary and university level, and led several groups of college students on study abroad experiences in eastern China. 

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