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2025 FHD State Winners

Webpage last updated: May 06, 2025

The following students received category awards at the 2025 Florida History Day state competition.

Junior Historical Paper

1st Place

Isabella Fierro Peralta
Rosalind Franklin and the Double-Edged Sword of the DNA
Double Helix 

American Heritage Schools, Broward County Campus (Broward)
Teacher: Rolendys Ravi, Leslie Porges

2nd Place

Yusuf Mahmood
Visionaries in Darkness: Unified Voices in Embracing Responsibility and Championing Rights of Blind
Howard Middle School (Marion)
Teacher: Pamela Earnest

3rd Place

Laygan Williams
The Journey for Civil Rights: The Freedom Riders’ Fight For
The Rights & Responsibilities of African Americans 

Merritt Brown Middle School (Bay)
Teacher: Susan Granberg

Senior Historical Paper

1st Place

Anika Iyer
Shifting the Scalpel: The Evolution of Patient Rights and
Physician Responsibility in Medicine

Carrollwood Day School (Hillsborough)
Teacher: Sabrina McCartney

2nd Place

Ingrid Hanley
Swampland Fraud
James Rickards High School (Leon)
Teacher: Jennifer Sullivan

3rd Place

Lorena Huang 
Defining Free Speech: The Lasting Legacy of Schenck v.
United States (1919)

Fort Myers High School (Lee)
Teacher: Scott Whittamore

Junior Individual Documentary

1st Place

Darian Grob
The Melodies of Change: Marvin Gaye's Music of Advocacy
and Urgency
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom

2nd Place

Medha Konda
The Rise of Monsanto: How One Agrochemical Company
Took Advantage of Farmers By Using Genetically Modified Seeds
Alfred B. Maclay School (Leon)
Teacher: David Combs

3rd Place

Lucas Armatas
Vietnam Veterans: Who Are We Fighting For?
St. Paul Catholic School (Escambia)
Teacher: Haley Richards

Junior Group Documentary

1st Place     

Sohum Mondal, Ameya Pathak
Order in Chaos: The Napoleonic Code Explained
Lake Highland Preparatory School (Orange)
Teacher: Emily Funston

2nd Place

Sree Vidya Siliver, Layla Smith
The Power of the Press: Rights and Responsibilities of the
Fourth Estate

Alice B. Landrum Middle School (St. Johns)
Teacher: Sandra Pagliughi

3rd Place

Evan Wehner, Mia Lipczynski, Mahogany Stevens, Fiona Boyd, Jayde Jean-Baptiste
Rights, Camera, Responsibility: The Spectacle and
Significance of the Hollywood Ten 

Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom

Senior Individual Documentary

1st Place

Devansh Dhavale
The Geneva Conventions: Rights and Responsibilities to
Protect Vulnerable Soldiers, Innocent Civilians and Selfless Aid Workers

Wiregrass Ranch High School (Pasco)
Teacher: Marlene Freiser

2nd Place

Chiara Wagner Ingletto
Justice on Trial: The Enduring Impact of the Nurnberg Trials Nintendo: Resetting an Industry
Gulliver Prep (Miami-Dade)
Teacher: Heriberto Cabada

3rd Place

Brandon Fritz
Disney Strike of 1941:Animator's Rights and a Studio's
Responsibilities

Calvary Christian Academy (Broward)
Teacher: Sharon Low

Senior Group Documentary

1st Place

Dahee Seo, Sieryn Lee, Sanhvi Kalathil
The AIDS Epidemic: The Fight for Rights and Responsibilty
Lawton Chiles High School (Leon)
Teacher: Wes Singletary

2nd Place

Sophia Valenti, Nyla Khan, Ian Thompson, Victoria Busch, Addison Sprecher
The Fight for Rights African Americans in Lee County, Florida
Fort Myers High School (Lee)
Teacher: Scott Whittamore

3rd Place

Victoria Bonadiman, Alanis Rivera
Deception: The Dark Side of the Birth Control Pill
Calvary Christian Academy (Broward)
Teacher: Sharon Low

Junior Individual Performance

1st Place

Henry Wellhausen
The Laconia Incident: The Murky Waters of Rights and Responsibilities
University Academy (Bay)
Teacher: Dianne Johnston 

2nd Place

Caelyn Northway
“Mistress to an Age:” The French Enlightenment,
Revolutionary & Napoleonic Salons and Germaine De
Caelyn Northway Stael's Rights and Responsibilities in History

Breakfast Point Academy (Bay)
Teacher: Christine Sermons

3rd Place

Kaelyn Becht
The Melancholy Battle for Justice: Japanese American
Internment

Lake Highland Preparatory School (Orange)
Teacher: Emily Funston

Junior Group Performance

1st Place

Cali Felch, Max Rish 
Elizabeth Blackwell: The Rights and Responsibilities of a
Female Pioneer in Medicine

Shorecrest (Pinellas)
Teacher: David Hodgson

2nd Place

Skylar Carter, Kenley Maddox, Toby Livingston, Yaretzi Delgado
Abarca, Kalissa Pate
The Drafting of The Declaration of Independence 
Mowat Middle School (Bay)
Teacher: Ember Manning       

3rd Place

Bella Rubino, Julianna Harter, Madison Lynes, Savannah Kellogg,          Marion Bevis
Magna Carta: Protecting Rights and Assigning
Responsibilities Since 1215 A.D. 

Christ Classical Academy (Leon)
Teacher: Matthew Harrington

Senior Individual Performance

1st Place

Aya Prince
A Court for the Creeks: How Seven Men Set in Motion A 150
Year Battle

Pensacola High School (Escambia)
Teacher: James Jones

2nd Place

Eleanor Nartker
Te Titri o Waitangi: A History of Maori Land Rights
Palm Harbor University High School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Andreas Mandelos

3rd Place

Liliana Leonarduzzi
Reporting from Chicago! The End of Prohibition
Palm Harbor University High School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Andreas Mandelos

Senior Group Performance

1st Place

Durva Shingote, Haswathi Varadharajan, Vritti Udasi
Swallowed Evidence, Swallowed Rights: The Impact of Rochin v. California
Strawberry Crest High School (Hillsborough)
Teacher: Brandeis Colburn

2nd Place

Sebastian Canizares, Maxwell Epstein, Kendall Loftus, Harry Handy, Peyton Sidwell
Monopolies, Meat, and Mayhem: The Fight for Workers' Rights
Fort Myers High School (Lee)
Teacher: Scott Whittamore

3rd Place

Addison Roberts, Julia Bonfanti
The Peaceful Transfer of Presidential Power and How
George Washington Set the Precedent 
Lawton Chiles High School (Leon)
Teacher: Wes Singletary

Junior Individual Exhibit

1st Place

London Bray 
Navajo Code Talkers: Journey from Responsibilities to Rights 
Windy Hill Middle School (Lake)
Teacher: Brian Williams

2nd Place

Liam Scanlan
Protecting Life at Sea: How the SOLAS Treaty Became an International Life Preserver
Starkey Ranch K-8 School (Pasco)
Teacher: Robert McGowan

3rd Place

Felicity Ward
Title IX: The Cornerstone of Women's Educational Equality
St. Paul Catholic School (Escambia)
Teacher: Haley Richards

Junior Group Exhibit

 1st Place

Asaf Cohen, John Patronis
I AM A MAN
Breakfast Point Academy (Bay)
Teacher: Christine Sermons

 2nd Place

Breanna Hewitt, Aleisa Swing 
The Dakota people's rights during the 1826 Dakota war and
the responsibility's of the U.S government when dealing with the Dakota people

Pine View Middle School (Pasco)
Teacher: Jennifer O'Connor

 3rd Place

Lauren Schubert, Asia Gallihugh, CJ Nigels, Azriela Talisaysay
Revealing Rights, Decoding Responsibilities; The Navajo Code Talkers
Dunedin Highland Middle School (Pinellas)
Teacher: Teresa Bergstrom

Senior Individual Exhibit

1st Place

Mia Ferranti
The First Amendment Silenced 
Mason Classical Academy (Collier)
Teacher: Charles Barton

2nd Place

Kailey Amaya
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, Off to Work We Go: Child Labor's Dark
Reality, Past & Present

American Heritage School - Palm Beach Campus (Palm Beach)
Teacher: Riley Sarkela

3rd Place

Gracelyn Sovel
The Newsboys Strike of 1899: Fighting for their Future
Bay High School (Bay)
Teacher: Steven Sain, Jordan Phelps

Senior Group Exhibit

1st Place

Sudhishna Gampa, Hasini Kandala
The "Thind" White Line 
Pensacola High School (Escambia)
Teacher: James Jones

2nd Place

Melody Yu, William Beaty
The Right to Breathe and the Responsibility to Protect Public Health: The Role of Flight Attendants in the Fight for Smoke-Free Skies
Alfred B. Maclay School (Leon)
Teacher: David Combs

3rd Place

Ashlyn Martin, Maddy Holland
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The King's Academy (Palm Beach)
Teacher: Brittany Gay

Junior Individual Website

1st Place

Ella Ruggiero
Rights and Responsibilities of Nazi Doctors Confronting
Medical Ethics

North Broward Preparatory School (Broward)
Teacher: Michelle Henne

2nd Place

Eleanor Cronin
The Radium Girls and the Radioactive Road to Worker's
Rights

Chiles Middle School (Seminole)
Teacher: Sarah Stone

3rd Place

Laila Saleh 
Coin-Locker Babies: How Maternal Responsibility Fostered
Women’s Right To Self-Determination in Japan

Alazhar School (Broward)
Teacher: Nadjet Beloulehi

Junior Group Website

1st Place

Aiden Haston, Nhi Le, James Hourdas 
A Silence Heard Across America: Tinker v. Des Moines and
the Fight for 1st Amendment Rights in Schools

Seven Springs Middle School (Pasco)
Teacher: Evangelos Saroukos

2nd Place

Arnav Bhatia, Sayem Khursheed
The Miracle Drug
American Heritage Schools, Broward County Campus (Broward)
Teachers: Leslie Porges, Rolendys Ravi

3rd Place

Julia Alsayed, Sela Alsayed, Hala Alsayed
The Chinese Exclusion Act
Creative Learning Academy (Escambia)
Teacher: Izzy Berman

Senior Individual Website

1st Place

Nicole Jiang
United States vs. Wong Kim Ark: A Defining Milestone in
American Birthright Citizenship 

Stanton College Preparatory (Duval)
Teacher: Caleb Smith

2nd Place

Yichen Ou
When Fear Governed Freedom: Rights and Responsibilities
Under Strain in the Japanese American Internment of WWII

Lawton Chiles High School (Leon)
Teacher: Wes Singletary

3rd Place

Tucker Minton
The Right to Defend, The Responsibility to Convict: The
Nuremberg Trials

The King's Academy (Palm Beach)
Teacher: Brittany Gay

Senior Group Website

1st Place

Tanvi Kundarapu, Nikitha Gaddipati 
Blood Money: Bayer’s Tainted Blood Trade — The Price of
Lost Rights and Broken Responsibilities 

Seminole High School (Seminole)
Teacher: Adam Carpenter

2nd Place

Mobasshira Iqbul, Jennifer Dong
Unit 731 - Violated Rights and Abandoned Responsibilities
Fort Myers High School (Lee)
Teacher: Scott Whittamore

3rd Place

Walter McDermott, Zoey Cajote
The Message of Elie Wiesel
The Collegiate Schools at FSU, Panama City (Bay)
Teacher: Ted Czupryk