History scholars from Vista Heights Middle School and North Ridge Elementary claimed an impressive nine medals at the recent Riverside County History Day competition. The winners now advance to the state competition, which will be held in – of all places – Riverside, April 24-27! The strong showing by Moreno Valley students at the county competition was noticed by the capacity crowd. In fact, one category was swept entirely by Vista Heights students! A big round of applause is in order for these young scholars: Junior Group Exhibit, 1st Place: Naomi Marr-Alhamd and Katelyn Sanchez, VHMS; 2nd Place: Dulce Arce, Jacqueline Cervantes and Laura Gonzalez, VHMS; Junior Individual Exhibit, 1st Place: Maddison Zipper, VHMS; 2nd Place: Samuel Hornaday, VHMS; Junior Paper, 3rd Place: Emma Logan, VHMS; 4th and 5th Grade Group 2-D Display, 1st Place: Herbert Mejia and Skylar Ramon, North Ridge Elementary; and Junior Individual Performance, 1st Place: Kaylin Ng, VHMS; 2nd Place: Skyy Blue, VHMS; and 3rd Place: Cynthia Lopez, VHMS. National History Day (NHD) is a highly regarded academic program for elementary and secondary-school students. Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in the NHD contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries. For more information, visit www.nhd.org.

MVUSD Historians Shine at Riverside County Competition