Students pose for a photo before the awards ceremony at the Hawaii History Day district fair Saturday at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Winners from the district contest will advance to the state fair April 25 on Oahu. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Nicole Lasko has found passion teaching history because she said it is making her students good citizens.

For the teacher from Kulanihakoi High School, learning about history not only promotes good citizenship, it teaches young people to think critically about the world around them and not just to depend on TikTok to form their opinions and views.

As many of Lasko’s students were announced as winners at the Hawaii History Day district fair Saturday at the University of Hawaii Maui College, Lasko celebrated their work and marveled at the wide variety of projects her students picked for themselves.

“One of my students on his own came up with how the education system is not really suited to our modern world because it was developed so long ago,” Lasko said. “I love that topic — it’s my favorite. And that’s a very strange topic for a student to come up with, but he loves it.”

Hawaii History Day is a program of the Hawaii Council for the Humanities and the official state affiliate of National History Day, a yearlong, project-based curriculum in history and civics for grades 4-12.

Lasko has made the projects a required part of her AP world history and modern history of Hawaii classes, and she hopes the effort will spread across all of the schools in Maui County.

In addition to learning to think critically, Lasko said her students benefit by learning to do research using primary sources and obtaining knowledge they didn’t have before.

“They get to look into something they’re passionate about, and they also get to choose the kind of project they do,” Lasko said of the Hawaii History Day projects.

As a bonus, winners get to advance from districts to the state fair April 25 at Windward Community College on Oahu. After the state competition, winners can advance to the national History Day competition June 14-18 at the University of Maryland, College Park, featuring nearly 3,000 students from around the nation and world.

At the district contest, Charisse Lynne Antonio earned a trip to the state fair for exploring how the invention of the cotton gin fueled slavery in the South.

Lasko had two other students — Avery Alexander and Olivia Schrandt — decide to do their project on how pro surfer Bethany Hamilton revolutionized the sport after losing an arm to a shark bite. Alexander and Schrandt presented theirs in the form of a puppet show. Now, they will get to do that show on Oahu.

As a mentor, Lasko helps guide the students in their work, but she admits that she often learns quite a bit from the students’ projects herself. This year, one of the projects focused on how women’s wrestling is the fastest growing sport for young women in the U.S.

“I had no idea,” Lasko said. “It made me sign up my sixth-grade daughter for wrestling.”

She said the History Day projects have even changed the way she teaches. “It’s helped me do things much more project-based and gets them into doing their own learning. And they will complain about it and they will fuss about it, but I have a student who is here for the third time this year.”

Being the newest high school on Maui with the first senior class in school history this year, Kulanihakoi is still looking for its first national History Day qualifier, but Lasko is optimistic.

“This is a really important opportunity for students coming from Neighbor Islands to get a chance to explore the world,” Lasko said.

The event was coordinated by Liana Horovitz, Hawaii History Day Historian consultant for Maui District and associate professor of History at UH Maui College, and Devin Makizuru, Hawaii History Day director at the Hawaii Council for the Humanities.

Yeshah Leones (left) and Jayleen Glapia of Maui High School stand for a photo in front of their project, “Empire Shaken Haitians Awaken,” at the Hawaii History Day district fair Saturday at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Courtesy photo

Roots Reborn leads an activity in which students respond to a question prompt of their choice (on the stand) on a cutout of a butterfly, which is then taped to the wall. The butterfly is a combination of a monarch butterfly, symbolizing migration over great distances, and the kamehameha butterfly, indigenous to Hawaii. In the green hat is Jessica Rosado of Roots Reborn. Also from Roots Reborn were Natalia Formero and Veronica Mendoza, Founding Executive Director. Courtesy photo

2026 Maui District Fair Results

At University of Hawaii Maui College

Senior Paper — “Industrial Designs Digital Demands: Educational Decay, Post-Revolution” by Logan Taylor (teacher Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School; “The Revolution, Reactions and Reforms of Women’s Wrestling Throughout the Years” by Selena Lei Villegas (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School.

Junior Individual Exhibit — “The Cotton Gin” by Miles Gleeson (Patricia Wurst) Sacred Hearts School.

Senior Individual Exhibit — “Revolution of medical technologies in the 18th century” by Madysen Voelker (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School; “Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin: Revolution, Slavery’s Rise, and Impact on America’s Legacy” by Charisse Lynne Antonio (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Senior Group Exhibit — “The Reaction of the Great Sugar Strike” by Audryanna Bonilla, Deanna Eckert and Leia Hook (Janyce Omura) Maui High School; “Pearl Harbor: A Geological and Historical Journey” by Caden Orikasa and Charley Garo (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Junior Group Documentary — “The Battle of Mendiola: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in the Philippines” by Bailey Santiago, Kaesten Smythe and Mina Paje (Patricia Wurst) Sacred Hearts School.

Senior Individual Documentary — “Kowloon” by Jaiden Ibanez (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Senior Group Documentary — “The Wretched Reaction to the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Japanese Incarceration” by Auzric Herrera and Tristan Mamuad (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School; “History That Will Blow Your Head Off!” by Clay Ballesteros, Hannah Cabebe and Masen Mascoto (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Junior Group Performance — “The 1888 London Matchgirls Strike” by Celine Doan, Kora Ramey and Stella Calderon (Patricia Wurst) Sacred Hearts School.

Senior Group Performance — “Bethany Hamilton” by Avery Alexander and Olivia Schrandt (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School.

Junior Individual Website — “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps” by Landon Whitwell (Robert Cacace) Myron B. Thompson Academy-A New Century PCS.

Senior Group Website — “The Bloodless War: People Power Revolution” by Euclid Jancen Domingo and Ivo Rodel Agbayani (Janyce Omura) Maui High School; “Penicillin: How One Discovery Changed the Course of Human Health Forever” by Isaac Kondo, Kingston Cabreros, and Santiago Terrazas Aguilera (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Community Awards

Bendon Family Foundation Award (outstanding project in education) — “Breaking Barriers: Title IX – The Door to Opportunities” by Ehra Louise Guiwa and Adleina Doses (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Matson Award (maritime history or oceanography) — “Pearl Harbor: A Geological and Historical Journey” by Charley Garo and Caden Orikasa (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Martin F. Wurst Jr. Award (American Civil War) — “Revolution of Medical Technologies in the 18th Century” by Madysen Voelker (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School.

Proteolinda Farm Award (agriculture or agricultural innovations) — “The Manongs Who Led The Way: How Filipino Farm Workers Sparked Unity” by Kayden Nicholls and Herman Andaya (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Robert Douglas Memorial Award (outstanding project related to individuals with physical or mental challenges, or medical innovations) — “Revolution of Medical Technologies in the 18th Century” by Madysen Voelker (Nicole Lasko) Kulanihakoi High School.

Wurst Family Foundation Award (use of primary sources) — “Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin: Revolution, Slavery’s Rise, and Impact on America’s Legacy” by Charisse Lynne Antonio (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.

Wurst Family Foundation Award (immigration or the contributions or challenges of immigrants) — “Fred Korematsu and the Internment Camps” by Elijah Pagaduan and Kalani Douglas (Janyce Omura) Maui High School.