Two Mississippi Students Recognized at 2025 National History Day Contest
Two Mississippi students were recognized with the Senior Mississippi Outstanding Affiliate Award during the 2025 National History Day contest, held this week in College Park, Maryland.
Phoebe Jones and Michael Taquino, both Starkville High School students, received the award on Thursday, said Bently Cochran, coordinator of the Mississippi History Day program at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The Outstanding Affiliate award recognizes the quality and dedication of both the students and the teachers who guide them.
“All our student contestants represented Mississippi, well,” Cochran said. “Their achievement in the national competition is the result of their hard work on the projects and rigorous history instruction in school classrooms.”
The Mississippi students were among more than 3,000 contest participants from the United States, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Department of Defense schools in the Atlantic, China and Korea.
Jones and Taquino were recognized for their project, “From Ancient Text to National Tongue: Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's Impact on the Hebrew Language.”
“National History Day has taught me how to thoroughly and professionally research academic topics, and it has deepened my interest in pursuing more historical work in the future. It’s been an incredible experience, one that I’m excited to take part in again,” said Jones, who presented the project alone as Taquino was unable to attend.
Myrto Sergi, another Starkville High student who participated in the contest, said the program has been “vital” this school year.
“It has taught me to read between the lines, ask more questions, and has made me a more confident and productive person overall,” Sergi said. “I feel as though NHD is one of the best experiences a student can have to prepare for the future.”
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, which seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. Established in 1974, the National History Day Contest engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Projects compete first at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, The Better Angels Society, and the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation.