Support Olivia, Abby & Emelia's NHD Journey

Dear friends, family, and supporters,

We are Olivia, Abby, and Emelia, three 7th grade students and NHD teammates who have worked since September to create a documentary titled Rights in Focus: Jacob Riis and the Fight for Tenement Reform. Our project won at regionals then first place in the documentary category at the Massachusetts State National History Day (NHD) competition, and we’ve been selected to compete at the national finals in June at the University of Maryland in College Park! With each round we get feedback and go back to make our project better.

The 2025 NHD theme, “Rights & Responsibilities in History,” challenged us to explore how individuals and groups have fought for their rights and the responsibilities of others to protect those rights. Our documentary focuses on Jacob Riis, a pioneering photojournalist who exposed the harsh living conditions in New York City’s tenements in the late 19th century. His work led to significant reforms and highlighted the importance of social responsibility in advocating for human rights. We are currently editing our number three version of our project but you can see our winning state submission here:

Project video

We are also preparing for our interview with the national judges, and will submit an annotated bibliography as well as a process paper for judging. We present our project and our research to a panel of judges and engage in an interview to defend our thesis, research and knowledge about our topic and the connection to the theme.

To learn more about NHD and the 2025 theme, visit the official NHD website: 

https://nhd.org/en/

How You Can Help

Competing at the national level is an incredible opportunity, but it comes with expenses. We are seeking your support to help cover travel, lodging, meals, and other necessary costs to ensure we can participate and represent Massachusetts proudly.

Any contribution, big or small, will make a difference and help us achieve our goal. We are incredibly grateful for your support and belief in our project.

Thank you for helping us bring history to life and for supporting our journey to the National History Day finals!

Thanks,

Olivia, Abby & Emelia