WARSAW — The Indiana Historical Society proudly announces four Warsaw Community Schools students took first place in the Junior Group Performance category at the 2017 National History Day in Indiana state contest. Approximately 475 students took part in Saturday’s competition at Ivy Tech’s campus in downtown Indianapolis.

Ryun Hoffert, Geoffrey Hochstetler, Jason Benyousky and Keller Bailey took first place in the junior group performance category. They performed “The Many Stands of Pearl Harbor.”

All first and second-place state finishers in each junior and senior category are now eligible to compete in the National Contest for National History Day, June 11 through 15, at the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park, Maryland. Approximately 3,000 students are expected to compete from across the country and from international schools around the world.

The National Contest will be the final stage in a series of contests for NHDI participants. Students in grades four through 12 began their journey by exploring a historical subject and then using their research to create a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website addressing this year’s theme, “Taking a Stand in History.”

Students qualified to state by taking part in regional contests where volunteer judges worked in teams to evaluate projects and rank winners. All regional finalists advanced to the state contest, where they were also able to win special prizes for Indiana history topics.