2026 OkNHD State Contest Winners
View the results of the Oklahoma National History Day State Contest, held in May 2026 at the Oklahoma History Center. These students advanced through regional contests across Oklahoma to compete at the state level, and first and second place projects will continue to the National Contest.
Junior Division
Junior Group Documentary
Third Place
Cultural Revolution
Aubrey Hall and Dulce Lopez
Saint James Catholic School, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Mayra Davila
Second Place
Shot Heard Around the World: Polio Vaccines and a Medical Revolution
Sinclair Reece and Sylvia Vaca
Sequoyah Eighth Grade Academy, Coweta
Teacher: Kyndal Hinton
First Place
Inventions That Revolutionized the Old West
Finnegan Hoover and Wyatt Bass
Rosary Catholic School, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Wendy Mounger
Junior Group Exhibit
Third Place
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871: The Spark That Ignited Building Code Reform, Revolutionizing Cities Forever
Weyland Poe and Teddy Tumbleson
Christ the King Catholic School, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Katy Bright, Tara Carlsward
Second Place
Tulsa Race Massacre
Jacquelin Kenmore and Maileigh Murphy
Canton Elementary School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
First Place
Title IX: Revolutionizing Girls’ Sports
Reese Davis and Hensley Estrada
Canton Elementary School, Canton
Teacher: Tiffany Estrada, Penny Heath
Junior Group Performance
Third Place
The Consequences of Creation: How the Revolutionary Cloning of Dolly the Sheep Affected the World of Science and Medicine
Georgia Valentine and Nichole Poole
All Saints Catholic School, Norman
Teacher: Pam Brown
Second Place
We Interrupt This Broadcast: Orson Welles and The War of the Worlds
Olivia Ross, Levi Brixey, and Daydree Horne
Morrison Junior High, Stillwater
Teacher: Patty Sanders
First Place
Labor Reform: Forged from the Ashes of Tragedy
Layken Bearman, Elizabeth Edwards, and Hazel Marie Davis
Canton Elementary School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath, Tiffany Estrada
Junior Group Website
Third Place
Roe V. Wade: The Fight for Reproductive Rights in U.S. History
Peyton Lang and Alysah Castleberry
Centennial Middle School, Tulsa
Teacher: Ruth Biggs
Second Place
The EPA and the DEQ
Damian Rivera, Lenna Fogam, Elizabeth Noble, and Jayden Le
Saint John Nepomuk, Yukon
Teacher: Amber Johnson
First Place
Crimes Against Humanity: The Doctors’ Trial
Audrey Edwards and Kayden Pattison
Centennial Middle School, Tulsa
Teacher: Ruth Biggs
Junior Individual Documentary
Third Place
A Heartbeat of Change: How Dr. C. Walton Lillehei Revolutionized the Idea of Open-Heart Surgery
Kardin Nguyen
All Saints Catholic School, Norman
Teacher: Pam Brown
Second Place
Documenting the Disaster: How the Oklahoma City Bombing Reformed and Revolutionized Mental Health Care in the Newsroom
Molly Newsom
Shawnee Middle School, Shawnee
Teacher: Cherity Pennington
First Place
Carbolic Acid and the Invisible Enemy: Joseph Lister's War on Infection
Emma Mourer
Morrison Junior High, Morrison
Teacher: Patty Sanders
Junior Individual Exhibit
Third Place
The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
Paityn Ousley
Sadler Arts Academy, Muskogee
Teacher: Amanda Cumbey
Second Place
Out Of The Dust: How Earth’s Revolt Led To Conservation Reforms
Emberly Thompson
Canton Elementary School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
First Place
The Silent Revolution: How Book Smugglers Influenced the Journey to Lithuanian Independence in the 1800s
Lilah Homeyer
All Saints Catholic School, Norman
Teacher: Pam Brown
Junior Individual Performance
Third Place
How Did Elvis Presley Revolutionize Rock ’n Roll?
Colin Howard
Shawnee Middle School, Shawnee
Teacher: Cherity Pennington
Second Place
The Evolution of Psychedelic Therapy and Its Historical Significance
Jonah Skinner
All Saints Catholic School, Norman
Teacher: Pam Brown
First Place
She Would Not Be Silent: Kate Barnard and the Cost of Reform
Lexi Kruse
Morrison Junior High, Morrison
Teacher: Patty Sanders
Junior Individual Website
Third Place
“Reform The Game Or Kill It!”: Saving American Football
Cody Evans
Canton Elementary School, Canton
Teacher: Tiffany Estrada, Penny Heath
Second Place
Horace Mann and the Common School Movement: The Great Equalizing Reform
Nur Altinalan
Centennial Middle School, Tulsa
Teacher: Lacy Godwin
First Place
The Green Revolution: Progress and Its Perils
Anthony Kidangathazhe
Stillwater Middle School, Stillwater
Teacher: Laura Glentzer
Junior Paper
Third Place
Ablaze: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Cecile McKee
St. Eugene Catholic School, Oklahoam City
Teacher: Kayden Leiser
Second Place
The Miss America Pageant Protest of 1968: The Protest That Transformed Feminism Through Revolution, Reaction, and Reform
Eva Hilty
Oneta Ridge Middle School, Broken Arrow
Teacher: Abby Tanner
First Place
The Babi Yar Massacre: A Critical Moment in the Holocaust
Monica Orozco-Orozco
Sequoyah Eighth Grade Academy, Broken Arrow
Teacher: Jax Franklin
Senior Division
Senior Group Documentary
Third Place
“High Urgency”: A Revolution, a Response, and a World Rewritten by the Atom
Kermit Burnam, Dylan Pacheco, Daniel Hernandez-Perez, Jose Villezcas, and Eduardo Galaviz
Dove Science Academy, Tulsa
Teacher: Angela Mathews, Stephen-Scott Frazier
Second Place
The Revolution of Modernized Nuclear Missile Technology, the Reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Reform of Nuclear Protocols
Ian Bidelspach, Archer Fullerton, Beau Aichele, Julian Mendoza, and Isaac Ringsmuth
Stillwater Junior High School, Stillwater
Teacher: Jonas Burns, Melissa Sutton
First Place
Dressing for Justice
Aryahi Singh and Rishi Rathi
Deer Creek High School, Edmond
Teacher: Carrie Walker
Senior Group Exhibit
Third Place
Japanese-American Internment Camps
Ari Reyes, Erika Vilcaez-Okayama, and Giovanni Sanchez
Stillwater Junior High School, Stillwater
Teacher: Jonas Burns, Melissa Sutton
Second Place
The Price of Fame
Kaia Moore and Halle Haywood
Alice Robertson Junior High School, Muskogee
Teacher: Oscar Flores
First Place
From Crisis To Care: The Orphan Trains and America’s Child Welfare Reform
Mackenzie Day and Aubree Taylor
Canton High School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
Senior Group Performance
Third Place
The Strike of the Century
Violet Russell, Selah Cross, Ella Morris, and Madison Pippin
Oklahoma Christian School, Edmond
Teacher: Daniel Maly
Second Place
“You May Do That’: How One Arrest Ignited National Reform
Cecilia Contreras and Alanis Garcia-Gomez
Dove Science Academy, Tulsa
Teacher: Angela Mathews, Stephen-Scott Frazier
First Place
The Molly Maguires: Revolution in the Pennsylvania Coal Fields
Kyler Haworth, Chase Dowell, and Liam Ross
Canton High School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
Senior Group Website
Third Place
And They All Preached Acceptance...: The Mexican Subculture Clash of 2008
Bianca Navarro and Chloe Prelesnick
Dove Science Academy, Tulsa
Teacher: Angela Mathews, Stephen-Scott Frazier
Second Place
The Bolshevik Uprising: How the October Revolution Changed Russian History
Jeshua Goytia Mauricio and Elijah Ferguson
Dove Science Academy, Tulsa
Teacher: Angela Mathews, Stephen-Scott Frazier
First Place
Without Consent: The Stolen Life of Henrietta Lacks
Malea Gaulden, Willow Smith, Bryleigh Mamdo, and Abigail Jiang
Alice Robertson Junior High School, Muskogee
Teacher: Oscar Flores
Senior Individual Documentary
Third Place
How Country Music Has Revolutionized Patriotism
Nathan Bennett
Mingo Valley Christian School, Tulsa
Teacher: Rachel Keeney
Second Place
Reaction, Revolution, and Reform in Hip Hop
Josiah Haley
Mingo Valley Christian School, Tulsa
Teacher: Rachel Keeney
First Place
Telling Our Own Stories: Indigenous Voices and the Fight for Authentic Representation
Taleah Williams
Morrison High School, Morrison
Teacher: Patty Sanders
Senior Individual Exhibit
Third Place
Harvesting Progress: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in Agriculture
Emma Haken
Morrison High School, Morrison
Teacher: Patty Sanders
Second Place
A Dream of Education: Nancy Randolph Davis
Hayden Estrada
Canton High School, Canton
Teacher: Tiffany Estrada, Penny Heath
First Place
Revolution in the Ranks: The Port Chicago Disaster and the Reaction that Reformed Naval Policy
Hannah Hoffman
Canton High School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
Senior Individual Performance
First Place
What We Saw
Briana Johnston
Mingo Valley Christian School, Tulsa
Teacher: Rachel Keeney
Senior Individual Website
Third Place
The Grunge Movement: The Rise and Fall of a Cultural Revolution
Andi Travis
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Michelle McCargish
Second Place
Charles Drew: Father of The Blood Bank
Dylan Koetter
Canton High School, Canton
Teacher: Penny Heath
First Place
Challenging Assumed Consent: Laura X’s Revolutionary Idea, Society’s Reaction, and America’s Reform
Emily Woodring
Morrison High School, Morrison
Teacher: Patty Sanders
Senior Paper
Third Place
Breaking the Cycle: Why “Out with the Old” Shouldn’t Mean “In With the Armed”
Taytum Schlarb
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Michelle McCargish
Second Place
How Suspicion and Misperception Shaped United States Cold War Relations
Dakota Nelson
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Michelle McCargish
First Place
From Corruption to Reform: The Oklahoma Supreme Court Scandal
Trapper Johnson
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Oklahoma City
Teacher: Michelle McCargish
