South Orangetown Central School District

Five members of the Tappan Zee High School History Honor Society–all juniors!–placed in this year’s Virtual Lower Hudson Valley Regional History Day Contest and are advancing to States! This year’s theme was “Debate and Diplomacy in History: Success, Failures, Consequences.” 

 Alexander Barsanti, Zachary Sabatini and Christopher Vanderhoef placed second for their group documentary entitled “The Vietnam War: Debate and Diplomacy.” “Interviewing Vietnam War veterans really impacted us,” reflected Barsanti. 

Sabatini added, “We wanted to learn about history from those who actually lived through it and tell their stories.”

Aspiring art history major Ava Bourne placed third for her exhibit, “Weimar Art.” “Art history is something that I’m very passionate about. Artists in Weimar, Germany showed their opinions of war and nationalism through art and I wanted to learn more about the artists and their work,” Bourne said. 

For his third-place paper, “A House Divided Against Itself: Civility Yields to the Civil War,” Matthew Tobin delved deeper into a topic he first researched as a middle school contest entrant. “I want to learn more about how different events impacted the American legal system. I actually enjoy writing research papers and look forward to working on more in college,” noted Tobin, who plans to major in political science with an eye toward law school.

TZHS History Honor Society advisor and Social Studies teacher Matthew Robertson helped students prepare their submissions. “All three projects were well-researched, highly informative and indicative of meticulous planning. The effort that these students put into crafting their work deserves the highest commendation and praise,” said Robertson. 

Congratulations to all!

History Day Contest Winners