The 2016 Student Winners

In the George Washington category, winner Jeeyoon Lee of Hayfield High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, describes Washington’s precedent-setting decision to leave office after two terms, thus establishing the peaceful transition of power that defines our democracy.

For Thomas Jefferson, Anusha Jailwala, Vyoma Jani, Ritika Miryala, and Sahiti Nadimpalli from Northwest High School, Germantown, Maryland, take first place for their submission on Jefferson’s decision-making process in acquiring the Louisiana Territory in 1803.

Considering Abraham Lincoln, Germantown, Maryland, Northwest High School students Janiece Jefferies, Yulong Jones, Natalie Morgan, and Pamela Steimel addressed two of Lincoln’s lesser-known presidential decisions, the signing of the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts in 1862.

Theodore Roosevelt was ably characterized by siblings Sam and Philip O’Sullivan from School Without Walls in Washington, D.C., who focused on TR’s monumental decision to promote the 1906 American Antiquities Act.

William Howard Taft’s decision to sign Proclamation 1225, which established toll rates on the Panama Canal, is the subject of Taj Ranna’s winning project from T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria City, Virginia.