Some students learn history by reading what’s already been written. Others learn it by asking their own questions and building something from the ground up.
At the state level National History Day State Competition in the University of Scranton on April 25 and 26, students from Reynolds Middle School did exactly that. After months of research, writing, revision, and performance, two projects earned top placements and will now advance to the 2026 National History Day National Contest on Thursday, June 18, at the Xfinity Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.
1st Place: Group Performance Junior Division
- Project Title: Her Side of History
- Students: Penelope Whetstone, Isabella Sedano-Perez, Annabelle Valentin, Hadley Schuller
2nd Place: Individual Performance Junior Division
- Project Title: The Tragic Death of Malvin Lewis Brown
- Student: Frederick Eshleman
In the Junior Division Group Performance category, Penelope Whetstone, Isabella Sedano-Perez, Annabelle Valentin, and Hadley Schuller earned first place for their project, Her Side of History. Their work didn’t come together overnight.
According to their teacher, Dr. Bradley C. Testa, a 7th grade social studies teacher at Reynolds Middle School, the group began developing their script last summer and continued refining it throughout the school year, shaping both their research and their performance with intention.
Frederick Eshleman earned second place in the Junior Division Individual Performance category for The Tragic Death of Malvin Lewis Brown. This was his first year participating in National History Day, and he chose one of the most demanding formats. An individual performance requires a student to carry the full weight of the project alone, from research to writing to delivering a 10-minute performance in front of judges.
At Reynolds, that level of work is the expectation. Each year, National History Day is built around a central theme that guides student research. From there, students spend months developing their projects, beginning with deep research using both primary and secondary sources. That process is intentionally hands-on. Students make multiple visits to the LancasterHistory, where they work directly with historians and engage with original artifacts and documents.
More than 30 Reynolds students participated in the regional competition this year, with 19 advancing to states, a reflection of both the scale of the program and the level of commitment students bring to it.
Once research is complete, students choose how to present their work. While National History Day offers several formats, Reynolds emphasizes performance, documentary, and website projects, pushing students to go beyond simply presenting information and instead interpret, analyze, and communicate it in meaningful ways.
Every project is supported by an annotated bibliography and a process paper that documents how students developed their work from start to finish. That structure asks students to not only understand history, but to explain how they came to understand it.
That’s what makes this achievement stand out. “And we worked throughout the year,” Dr. Testa shared. “We worked on their bibliography. We worked on their performance. And they put so much work into it. I hope they see that hard work eventually pays off in the end.”
For Dr. Testa, who has been teaching for more than two decades, this moment carries added meaning. This is the first time in his career that students have advanced to the national competition.
Now, both projects will move on to the National History Day National Contest, taking place June 14–18, 2026, at the University of Maryland, College Park. There, nearly 3,000 students from across the country and around the world will present their work, engage with historians, and experience a level of academic competition that reflects the highest standards of the program.
For the students, it’s a chance to see their work in a much larger context. “When they go to nationals, I hope they see that what we did at Reynolds is on par with what students are doing across the country,” Dr. Testa said. “They belong there.”
This is what it looks like when students are given the time, structure, and support to do meaningful work. Not just completing an assignment, but building something that holds up beyond the classroom.
And now, taking it to a national stage.