Students from five schools represented the Houston Independent School District at the Texas History Day Competition on April 24.

Students from Baylor College of Medicine Biotech Academy at Rusk Middle School, Black Middle School, Carnegie Vanguard High School, Mandarin Immersion Magnet School, and Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy attended the competition.

History Day competitions provide students with opportunities to demonstrate research and critical thinking skills through innovative, creative projects that follow an assigned theme. This year’s theme was “Communication in History: The Key to Understanding.”

A junior at Carnegie Vanguard, David Rauch, won second place in the individual website category. For his project, David created a website titled Cold War Propaganda: McCarthyism, the Space Race, and Beyond.

He was sponsored by Dr. Charlotte Haney, AP Human Geography Teacher at CVHS.

“During this year where so many students have struggled for good reasons, David has managed to be a trailblazer here at Carnegie,” Haney said.

Rauch will next represent HISD and Texas at the National History Day competition in June.

Two more students—Opeyemi Ogundele from Young Women’s College Prep Academy and Danielle Hackett from Black Middle School—earned Outstanding Regional Awards in their respective divisions.