Los Alamos students advance to national History Day contest

Twenty-two students from Piñon Elementary School and Los Alamos Middle School turned months of research, writing and rehearsals into state-level recognition, with several now advancing to the National History Day contest at the University of Maryland, College Park. For a small district, the result underscores how deeply history scholarship has taken root in Los Alamos, where students are being asked to do more than memorize facts. They are building arguments, handling primary sources and presenting under pressure.

The local standouts were Isaac Light and Evan Cunningham, who took second place in the Junior Group Documentary category for Dive Bombers, Dictators, and Death. Their finish was strong enough to send them to nationals, a mark of distinction in a competition that draws student projects from across New Mexico and funnels only a select few to the final stage. Brandon Keller also earned statewide notice, placing third in the Junior Paper category with The Elixir Sulfanilamide Tragedy: How One Medicine Changed Drug Safety Forever. Keller will serve as an alternate for the national contest.

Los Alamos also collected special awards that point to the breadth of the program, not just its top finishers. Everett James won recognition for Environmental History. Aditya Nag earned the J. Robert Oppenheimer Person in Science Award. Grant Mason received the Oppenheimer Excellence in Research Award. Taken together, those awards show a program producing students who can research, organize and defend ideas in more than one format.

National History Day, founded in 1974, now engages more than half a million students each year. Students compete in documentary, exhibit, paper, performance and website categories, and the national program’s 2026 theme is Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. The national contest is scheduled for June 14-18 at the University of Maryland, College Park, with the awards ceremony set for June 18 at the Xfinity Center. National History Day says nearly 3,000 students, families and teachers gather there each June, making the jump from Albuquerque to College Park a highly selective step.

In New Mexico, the program is a year-long academic competition for students in grades 6 through 12 that emphasizes inquiry, primary-source research and presentation, and it aligns with state social studies standards implemented in 2023. Local support has also been visible at Fuller Lodge, where the Los Alamos Historical Society hosted a History Day showcase on February 24 and parent volunteers, Historical Society volunteers and New Mexico NHD representatives served as judges. For Los Alamos schools, the results reflect an academic pipeline that is still producing students ready for a national stage.