Maysville Panthers Make History at National History Day State Competition

ZANESVILLE, OH – Some Maysville students are making history, and winning awards while they’re at it!

Four Maysville High School students earned top honors at this year’s National History Day state competition. The competition challenges students to research a historical topic and present it in a creative format, like a performance, website or documentary. Seniors Scarlet Price and Emma Rush took home first place in the Group Website category.

“It’s really rewarding to have hard work be recognized. It’s awesome to have the opportunity to go to the competitions because we’re able to share our project with more and more people and get the story that we’re trying to tell out. It’s really rewarding to go to a competition and have a judge say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know this,’ or ‘I’ve never heard of this before.’ I think that’s the coolest part about it to me,” Price said.

“I’m not really a big history person. But through this competition, it doesn’t feel quite like history. It feels like just an interest that I really like. Through exploring these sorts of things, being able to do these research projects, and to be really good at it, according to the judges, it’s nice to be able to explore something academically and to succeed at it,” Rush said.

Sophomore Greyson Hearing wowed judges in the Individual Performance category, and senior Will Stoepfel claimed second in the Individual Documentary category. The students will now all compete at the National History Day Contest in Washington, DC in June.

“Just looking at this project, it’s crazy. I never would’ve thought that I could’ve done this. But I did. I made it to nationals. And I think it’s very cool, ” Hearing said.

“It feels really great to be recognized for my hard work. I went out and I did my own photography and videography. That was a lot of fun. It was really nice to be a new beginner to these things and for it to pay off and the judges say ‘Oh, we love that personal aspect of it.’ So, it was very gratifying,” Stoepfel said.

This marks the third time that Rush and Price have qualified for nationals, making them the first students in school history to achieve this honor. Over 500 students competed in the state competition.