History Headlines: Standing Bear students gain lifetime skills with first History Day projects

April 8, 2025

Standing Bear High School students produced plenty of historical headlines this semester with their efforts on in-depth class projects.
 
Members of the Advanced Placement (AP) United States History class have been working on National History Day (NHD) projects for the first time. They have conducted detailed research about a range of topics for group and individual exhibits and presentations. The Grizzlies competed in the school’s first district contest alongside students from Southeast and East high schools on March 31.
 
Jasmine Shulyak and Janet Kovalenko said they have enjoyed the new activity. They created a project about the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District case, which addressed free speech rights of students in public schools. In addition to sifting through dozens of primary and secondary sources, they also corresponded with Mary Beth Tinker, one of the three main student petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court case.
 
“I think that this project is going to help us broaden our perspective on how the world works and stuff like that, but it’s also helping teach us how to do thorough research and looking at both primary and secondary documents,” Shulyak said. “It’s been great.”
 
Addie Kahle said she has also had fun with her NHD project. She explored the lives of African American women who became important contributors in the Space Race. One of the people she researched is Katherine Johnson, who analyzed the flight trajectory for Alan Shepard’s groundbreaking Freedom 7 space mission. Her talents as a skilled mathematician also made the Project Apollo moon landings a reality.
 
“It’s just cool to go behind the scenes and learn what they did and how it happened,” Kahle said. “I’ve really enjoyed learning how they overcame a lot of adversity to accomplish some really great things.”
 
Standing Bear social studies teacher Kyle Beacom said those academic breakthroughs are why NHD is important. Beacom began leading NHD activities at Southeast in 2012 and helped many Knights earn district, state and national awards. He wanted to give Standing Bear students the same types of successful opportunities when he started teaching at the new school.
 
“It’s been good to bring it over here and see kids really dig deep in their research,” Beacom said. “A lot of them fall in love with their topics, which is fun.”
 
The Grizzlies are joining one of the largest social studies activities in the country. More than 500,000 students in grades 6-12 work on NHD projects each year. They use their historical research skills to create papers, exhibits, performances, documentaries and websites. Nebraska students have been participating in NHD since 1985.
 
Juniors Maddie Kulhanek, Orla Blake and Kavai Dodworth said it has been exciting to figure out the details of their research project about women’s suffrage. They wrote a play about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who worked to gain equality for women in the United States. Anthony was arrested in 1872 after she cast a ballot in the presidential election. The ensuing trial created national headlines and made Anthony a key figure in the voting rights movement.
 
“This has been really fun to do,” Kulhanek said. “I think we’ve all learned a lot from doing this project.”
 
The three teammates pored over many historical items to create an accurate script. Beacom required everyone in the class to find at least ten sources for their NHD project, which meant the three Grizzlies had to gather a minimum of 30 documents.
 
“It’s a lot of sources,” Dodworth said. “It’s been challenging, but it’s made the project a lot better.”
 
Shulyak said she and Kovalenko have experienced similar academic rewards. They began researching the Tinker v. Des Moines case in September and learned how it affected public schools across the country. U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled that school officials cannot censor student speech unless it materially and substantially disrupts the educational process.
 
“We’re planning out how we’re going to have the exhibit board set up, and we were thinking about a trifold, but it’s going to be set up like you’re in a courtroom type of situation,” Shulyak said earlier this spring. “I’m pretty excited to get started on it.”
 
Beacom said he has enjoyed watching students elevate their critical thinking and project management skills. They have also discovered how organization, dedication and curiosity can lead to successful outcomes.
 
“I’m hoping to replicate college-level projects where it takes an entire semester to complete,” Beacom said. “I’m also wanting them to learn things like grit, some perseverance, working through things that are tough like annotated bibliographies. Hopefully it gives them a better understanding of American history and makes connections to some of the lessons that we’re teaching in class as well.”
 
Beacom said he has been impressed with the enthusiasm he has seen from students this year. He said that was a good sign of things to come.
 
“Hopefully this group of juniors has a good experience and will spread the word to the sophomores and they’ll want to do it next year too,” Beacom said.
 
Blake said she was happy to be one of the pioneers of Standing Bear’s NHD program. She would recommend the activity to every Grizzly interested in history.
 
“I’ve been having a lot of fun with this,” Blake said. “It’s definitely been a good thing.”
 
LPS has many social studies opportunities for K-12 students. Visit home.lps.org/socialstudies to learn more about activities at every grade level.
 
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LPS Nebraska History Day District Contest State Qualifiers

Senior (Grades 9-12) Individual Exhibit

1st place: Milena Prochaska – Title IX: A Catalyst for Educational Equality – Lincoln Southeast
2nd: Ellaina Manning – Fighting Against Communism in America: How the Red Scare and John Birch Society Worked Against Communism in America – Lincoln Southeast
3rd: Molly Andrews – Salem Witch Trials: Judicial Rights and Responsibilities – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Group Exhibit

1st place: Janet Kovalenko and Jasmine Shulyak – Activism and Armbands: The Influence of Tinker v. Des Moines on Student Rights – Lincoln Standing Bear
2nd: Avril Ameli, Ava Bearden, Camree Craft and Peyton Svendsen – The Great Flappers of the 1920s: Paving the Way for a New Era of Women – Lincoln Southeast
3rd: Sam Abak and Ashton Reichmuth – Indian Citizenship Act of 1924: Path to Progress – Lincoln Standing Bear

Senior Individual Documentary

3rd place: Ryker Ressel – Stonewall Inn: The Past, the Uprising and Everything that Ensued – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Group Documentary

1st place: Chase Bergstrom and Tobias Pfeifer – The Forgotten Brother: How Vincenzo Capone Fought Moonshiners and Protected Native Americans – Lincoln Southeast
2nd: Sam Heaston and Hunter Hupka – Foundations of Freedom: The Nebraska State Constitution – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Individual Website

1st place: Jackie Burkey – The Affordable Care Act: The Government’s Role in Protecting Americans’ Right to Afford Healthcare – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Group Website

1st place: Katelyn Pischel and Autumn Veen – Prohibition: Reform Gone Wrong – Lincoln Southeast
2nd: London Lambrecht and Joseph Perez Meza – Newburgh: How Washington Kept Us Together – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Individual Performance

1st place: Gideon Terwilleger – The Tuskegee Men – Lincoln Southeast

Senior Group Performance

1st place: Orla Blake, Kavai Dodworth and Maddie Kulhanek – The Sneaky Women: How Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton Fought for Women’s Rights (by sneaking in to vote) – Lincoln Standing Bear

Senior Individual Paper

1st place: Jackson Froeschl – Unveiling Injustice: The Systemic Mistreatment of Mexicans in America During and After World War II – Lincoln Standing Bear
2nd: Erin Louderback – How the Seneca Falls Convention Launched the Women’s Suffrage Movement – Lincoln Southeast
3rd: Jonathan De Jabet – The Nuclear Nuance: How the Responsibilities of the Nuclear Age Affected the People of the World – Lincoln Southeast

Special Awards for Exceptional Projects

Jackson Froeschl – Lincoln Standing Bear – Lorraine Berkhout Award for the Best Achievement in Historical Writing
Gideon Terwilleger – Lincoln Southeast – Best Project in the Diversity of American Culture
Milena Prochaska – Lincoln Southeast – Sandra Slade McDermott Award for the Best Project in Women’s History
Janet Kovalenko and Jasmine Shulyak – Lincoln Standing Bear – James Isemann Award for the Best Project in Military History

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