DRIPPING SPRINGS — Dripping Springs Independent School District students Grant and Nora Gillam each placed in the top five at the National History Day competition held June 9-13 at the University of Maryland.
Grant Gillam
Nora Gillam
Nora, a seventh-grader at Dripping Springs Middle School, won fourth place in the Junior Individual Website category for her site, “Poison Pill: How the 1982 Tylenol Scandal Became a Turning Point for Consumer Safety.” She competed against sixth, seventh and eighth graders from around the country, South Korea, Singapore and U.S. territories. Her work included archival research at the National Archives, requests for information from federal agencies and a personal interview with Johnson & Johnson’s general counsel during the 1982 Tylenol Scandal. Her sponsor was DSMS teacher Kristen Miller.
Four-time state champion and Dripping Springs High School senior Grant Gillam won fifth place in the Senior Individual Website category for his website, “Winning Engine: How the Inch Pipeline Was a Turning Point in World War II.” This is his third time placing in the top five at the national competition, competing against students from across the country and from Finland, Vietnam, Korea and Guam. Grant’s work includes archival research at the National Archives and the Briscoe Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which won him the Best Use of Texas Archival Collections award at the state competition. He also won a Student Leadership Grant from the Dripping Springs Education Foundation to help with his historical research and travel to the national competition. His sponsor is DSHS teacher Kibby Jensen.
Nora and Grant are among more than 600,000 students around the world who have completed a project in one of five categories (documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website) related to the 2024 theme, “Turning Points in History.” The two won the state title at the Texas History Day competition in May, earning a spot at the national competition.
Top students from all 50 states, Washington, DC, U.S. territories and international schools were invited to participate in the National History Day competition.
