Six students in Nell-Ann Lynch’s Honors U.S. History classes received first and second place in their respective categories in the Connecticut National History Day (NHD) state competition held last Saturday at Central Connecticut State University. After placing in the top four at the Fairfield and Torrington Region qualifiers last February, the winning students competed against teams from schools across Connecticut in the day-long state competition that consisted of a product presentation and an interview round. The winning students will travel to College Park, Maryland, where they will represent Connecticut against teams from states.
Caroline Banks ’26, Uma Choudhury ’26 and Inklings’ own Zara Saliba ’26 placed first in the Senior Division Group Exhibit category for their presentation entitled “A Turning Point in Culture: The Immoral Origin and Immortal Legacy of HeLa Cells.” Their tri-fold presentation tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were taken from her without her knowledge and used to invent monumental vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccination, and inspire reforms in patients rights.
Choudhury first discovered the story of Henrietta Lacks during a book club unit in her ninth grade biology class. She and Saliba had previously partnered for their eighth grade NHD project, and the two joined forces with Banks to explore the medical and ethical impacts of HeLa cells.
“I sort of felt like it was a responsibility [to make her the subject of our NHD project],” Choudhury said. “We’ve all benefited from the advancements made with her cells in so many ways, and so it kind of feels like our duty to pass on her story. Because of her cells, we’re able to live so much longer and fight off diseases.”
Banks, Choudhury and Saliba were particularly struck by the hidden nature of HeLa cells.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand that Henrietta Lacks was an actual person, whose cells were stolen from her,” Saliba said. “Her cells made a name for her, but very few people know her story, like very few pictures of her even exist. Her own family didn’t even know [Lacks’] cells were being mass-produced until decades after they were stolen from her.”
Also receiving first place for Senior Individual Website was Julien McMahon ’26 for “The Shot that Echoed Across the World: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.”
Chloe Jordan ’26 and Sienna Wearsch ’26 earned second place in the Senior Group Performance category, with a theatrical rendition about the spiritualist movement, titled “Beyond the Boundaries of the Human and Feminist World.” Throughout the piece, Jordan and Wearsch show the evolution of the spiritualist religion in America from its origins in the Atlantic slave trade to its central role in the feminist movement of the 19th century, by portraying important female figures in the movement.
“Because a lot of spiritualist rituals were seen as entertainment,” Wearsch said, “we felt that [a performance] was the best medium in order to honor that.”
Portraying the different complexities and layers of the spiritualist movement was not an easy task. After receiving feedback from the judges at regionals that their performance lacked theatrics and felt instead like a lecture, the girls changed their original script to better immerse themselves into the spiritualist narrative by playing the different characters themselves.
“The most rewarding part for me was the night before [the state competition],” Jordan said. “We were really working up to the wire, and being nit-picky, but on the last night, seeing how all the scenes made sense and came together like a puzzle, was a really proud moment for us, like we’d created something amazing.”
Jordan and Wearsch look forward to performing at nationals, and encourage those interested in learning more about the spiritualist movement to check out the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.
“Because of the stigma surrounding the spiritualist practices of witchcraft and séance, many people don’t understand that spiritualism is a valid religion and that the women who participated in it were so important to modern-day feminism,” Wearsch said. “They created the backdrop for all of the rights that exist for women today.”
Lynch is proud of all the hard work her students have put into NHD this past year.
“It’s difficult balancing NHD on top of the regular honors curriculum,” she said. “It takes a lot of discipline and time management, so to make it all the way to Nationals is a huge accomplishment. I’m proud of them no matter what happens.”
The national finals will be held at University of Maryland, College Park from June 9-13.
