Correspondent photo / John Patrick Gatta
Hubbard High School seniors Jon Miller, left, and Luke Wack discuss their exhibit, “I Sustain the Wings,” Saturday morning during the Region 4 Ohio History Day at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor. They won third place in the Senior Group Exhibit category.
YOUNGSTOWN — While a select group were recognized out of the 128 middle and high school students who competed at the Region 4 Ohio History Day on Saturday, all participants were rewarded for gaining a deeper knowledge of past events in the Buckeye State, as well as the United States.
“For students it’s an opportunity to learn historical methodology, to interpret sources and learn what a historian does for a living and why it’s important,” said Youngstown State University professor David Simonelli, Region 4 Ohio History Day coordinator. “For educators and teachers, it’s a great opportunity to bask in the talents and excitement of another generation of kids who have the same value for history that they do.”
Hosted for more than 50 years by YSU, students from grades 6-12 worked in conjunction with the 2026 theme — “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” In groups or individually, they illustrated that theme in their history project in one of the five categories — documentary, paper, performance, website and exhibit (cardboard trifolds). Altogether, there were 71 projects, 32 teams and 56 judges.
There are 10 regions in Ohio. Region 4 encompasses schools in Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties.
During an awards ceremony that took place in the afternoon at the Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center, winners of projects that focused on Ohio history included:
• Zachary Morgan and Jimmy Van Valien of St. Rose School in Girard received second place in the Junior Group Exhibit category for “The Wright Brothers and How Their Aeroplane Changed The World.”
• Julian Zhybak, Jackson Powell and Jossiel Martinez of St. Rose received first place in the Junior Group Website for “How the Ku Klux Klan’s Presence and Actions in the 1960s Created Fear and Hatred, and How That Fear and Hatred Motivated People to Stand Up Against Racism.”
• Nick Velotta of Notre Dame Elementary School in Chardon received first place in the Junior Individual Website for “Northeast Ohio’s Poisoned Past.”
• Liam Sharlock of St. Rose Catholic School received first place in the Junior Individual Exhibit for “Forged in Steel: Youngstown Revolution, Reaction, Reform.” Sharlock received three awards for his project, including the History Day Research Award. He and St. Rose’s Alex Cooper won the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s Local History Award. Cooper’s project was “Grit, Glory, and Giving Back.”
“Kids are always encouraged to study local history because it’s a great way of getting primary sources to use in assembling their projects; that’s part of why the MVHS offers its award, and other local museums always promote the contest too, especially the Steel Museum, to encourage kids to study in their archives,” Simonelli said.
“It’s a chance to take pride in kids learning about the community they live in when they do a local history subject, and to promote how their schools foster excitement for academic subjects that will benefit the community when they grow into adults.”
Winners from Region 4 advance to the 2026 state contest at Capital University in Columbus. Those winners make it to the 2026 national contest at the University of Maryland. Students from all 50 states will participate in that event.
How they fared
Local winners of the Region 4 Ohio History Day competition:
• Junior Group Documentary — Anna Ulicney, Bynn Biddlestone and Ian McKenna of St. Rose School in Girard, first place for “The New Deal,” and Jaidyn Woods, Madison Gonzalez and Allison Sandor of St. Rose, second place for “Title IX: Equal Access, Equal Opportunity.”
• Senior Group Documentary — Samuel Manning, Giorgio Restaino, Rex Papa and Owen Olmi of Ursuline High School, first place for “The Easter Rising: A Failed Revolution Leads to a Long-Term Victory.”
• Junior Group Exhibit — Dan Reardon, Grace Reardon and Lucy Reardon of St. Rose, first place for “Backhanding Barriers: How Althea Gibson Broke the Color Barrier”; Zachary Morgan and Jimmy Van Valien of St. Rose School, second place for “The Wright Brothers and How Their Aeroplane Changed The World”; and Lillian Dambrogio, Mallory Berlon and Myka Wilson of Holy Family School in Poland for “Emmett Till: The Spark to the Civil Rights Movement.” St. Rose also received two Honorable Mentions in the category for projects on Pearl Harbor and The Great Depression.
• Senior Group Exhibit — Ella Hermensky, Esmee Femia-Smith and Isabella Ross of Hubbard High School, second place for “The Festival that Reformed the Music Industry: The Lilith Fair”; and Luke Wack and Jon Miller of Hubbard High School, third place for “I Sustain the Wings.” The first place winners were from Hawken Upper School.
• Junior Group Website — Julian Zhybak, Jackson Powell and Jossiel Martinez of St. Rose, first place for “How the Ku Klux Klan’s Presence and Actions in the 1960s Created Fear and Hatred, and How That Fear and Hatred Motivated People to Stand Up Against Racism”; and Thomas Van Valien, Tanner Payich and Roman Budrovici of St. Rose, second place for “Theodore Roosevelt: The Progressive Era.” The first place winners were from Hawken Upper School.
• Junior Individual Exhibit — Liam Sharlock of St. Rose, first place for “Forged in Steel: Youngstown Revolution, Reaction, Reform.”
• Senior Individual Exhibit — Lillian Atkinson of Hubbard High School, first place for “Under Investigation…. Josephine Baker”; and Emma Toppetta of Hubbard High School, second place for “Cabaret: Politics in Art.”
• Senior Individual Performance — Liesse Ihirwe of Ursuline, first place for “Ndabaga’s Story.”
• Senior Individual Website — Annika Curnalia of Hubbard High School, third place for “The Flapper Girls.” The first and second place winners were from Hawken Upper School.
• Junior Papers — Charlie Sandy of St. Rose, second place for “Music: The Voice of Revolution”; and Beniamino Perotta of Holy Family School, third place for “The Industrial Revolution as a Social Revolution.” The first place winner was from Notre Dame Elementary School.
Source: Ohio History Connection
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