By ANDY GRAY

Staff writer

YOUNGSTOWN — Most days classwork leads to grades.

On Saturday at Youngstown State University, that classwork earned medals.

Middle school and high school students throughout Northeast Ohio participated in National History Day. This year’s theme was “Rights and Responsibilities in History,” and students had to choose a topic that fit the theme and create a project in one of five categories: exhibit, paper, website, performance or documentary.

Judges evaluate all of the projects and select winners, who will get to compete at the state level.

“We have a regular set of schools that come and attend, and they have always been terrific,” said David Simonelli, a humanities and social sciences professor at YSU. “And we got lots of comments this year from the judges about how great the projects were, which was gratifying.”

More than 20 sixth- and eighth-grade students from St. Rose Catholic School in Girard left with medals on Saturday.

St. Rose social studies teacher Gina Leeworthy said the program helps students develop many of the skills they need to learn.

“Learning how to research, learning how to do an annotated bibliography — which is always so much fun putting together — and picking their category,” Leeworthy said. “Especially with the research aspect, it really just hits a lot of those standards for their schooling each year.”

National History Day also can be a springboard to future opportunities. Simonelli said he spoke to a former participant Saturday who made it to nationals in the documentary category.

“She went on to Ohio University and became their first undergraduate student in their film program,” Simonelli said. “She’s actually been hooked up with Ken Burns and might end up working as an intern, because she made it all the way to nationals and he remembered her and brought her in and talked to her about making films about history.”

The 2025 YSU National History Day award winners were:

* Junior Group Documentary — Maya Herdzik and Claire Makis, Hubbard, St. Rose Catholic School, first place.

* Senior Group Documentary — Sawar Sahni, Sam Taliwal and Benjamin Miyares, Rocky River, Hawken Upper School, first place.

* Junior Group Exhibit — Jaxon Pruneski, Noah Hicks and Samuel Chen, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, first place; Aria Ries and Nuala Terracina, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, second place; Jillian Scoville and Cecilia Baldwin, Warren, St. Rose Catholic School, third place; Sadie Dellimuti, Elizabeth Rock and Piper McNeil, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, honorable mention; James Wiscott, Patrick Terracina and Micah McNeil, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, honorable mention.

* Senior Group Exhibit – Michael Koulianos, Neo Kong and Ben Balog, Hubbard High School, first place; Adelina Wunderle and Ella Ribelin, Ravenna High School, second place; Hannah Thompson, Luka Harrison, Ethan McGarry and Gavin Mesmer, Hubbard High School, third place.

* Junior Group Website — Jonathan Burney, Garrett Teutsch and Patrick Reardon, Boardman, St. Rose Catholic School, first place; Siyana Alayon, Kolton Maniscalco, Oliver McKenna and Londyn Paige, Youngstown, St. Rose Catholic School, second place; Asher Howard, Brady Klem, Amari Alamin and Billy Van Halien, Hubbard, St. Rose Catholic School, third place.

* Senior Group Website — Abigail Piazza, Su-Kyi Ng and Sofia De la Cruz, Chagrin Falls, Hawken Upper School, first place; Ayat Jaffar, Leen Akras, Leanne Zheng and Linchang Zhao, Beachwood, Hawken Upper School, second place; Audrianna Honda, Will D’Eramo, Naomi Baskind and Valeria Kislyansky, Solon, Hawken Upper School, third place.

* Junior Individual Documentary — Riley Crish, Youngstown, St. Rose Catholic School, first place.

* Junior Individual Exhibit — Deasia Campbell, Euclid, Notre Dame Elementary School, first place; Iva Injic, Chardon, Notre Dame Elementary School, second place; Sophina Cowen, Mentor, Notre Dame Elementary School, third place; Sarah Kent, Chagrin Falls, Notre Dame Elementary School, honorable mention; Kendall Sminchak, Concord, Notre Dame Elementary School, honorable mention; Maddie Brooks, Chagrin Falls, Notre Dame Elementary School, honorable mention; Erin Eichas, Mentor, Notre Dame Elementary School, honorable mention

* Senior Individual Exhibit — Isabella Barr, Hubbard High School, first place; Delaney Thomson, Hubbard High School, second place

* Junior Individual Performance — Ava Melfi, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, first place.

* Junior Individual Website — Avery Pavetti, Concord, Notre Dame Elementary School, first place; Gianmarco Femia, Girard, St. Rose Catholic School, second place.

* Senior Individual Website — Peter Murray, Chardon, Hawken Upper School, first place; Calvin Lei, Westlake, Hawken Upper School, second place.

* Junior Paper — Brandon Bacik, Concord, Notre Dame Elementary School, first place; Jamison Smith, Chesterland, Notre Dame Elementary School, second place; Emma Wilcox, Chardon, Notre Dame Elementary School, third place.

* Senior Paper — Omar Elbadawy, Hawken Upper School, Avon, first place.