Students capture titles at Texas History Day contest

Dripping Springs ISD students Grant Gillum and Nora Gillum each captured state titles at the Texas History Day State Contest on Saturday, April 20, to advance to the National History Day Contest.

Sophomore Grant Gillum claimed a fourth consecutive state championship with his website, “Fueling Victory: How the Inch Pipelines Became a Turning Point in World War II,” to take top honors in the Senior Division Individual Website category. In addition to winning four state titles, Gillum placed second at the national contest in 2023 and was a third-place finisher in 2021.

Nora Gillum, a Drip [iddle School, captured her first state title with sixth-grader at Drif ping Springs Mie her website, “Poisoned Pills: How the 1982 Tylenol Scare Was a Turning Point in Consumer Safety,” for the Junior Division Individual Website crown.

The National History Day competition will be held June 8-13 at the University of Maryland in College Park. This is the fifthstraight year a DSISD student has advanced to the national contest.

The National History Day contest encourages more than 300,000 students nationwide to conduct in-depth historical research on a topic of their choice. Each year, a theme is chosen for broad application to world, national or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, NHD’s 2024 theme is “Turning Points in History.”