WESTPORT — From Harlem’s golden age to the assassination that triggered WWI to feminism, diverse projects exploring history’s turning points recently won statewide recognition for Westport students.

Now, six of those local projects are eligible to compete on the national stage.

Students from Staples High School and Bedford and Coleytown middle schools won awards for a total of nine projects at the Connecticut History Day competition May 4 at Central Connecticut State University.

Theme of this year’s competition was “Turning Points in History.”

Students whose projects placed first or second in their categories at the state event are eligible to move on to the National History Day competition, scheduled June 9-13 at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Westport students who won awards at Connecticut History Day include:

Uma Choudhury, Zara Saliba and Caroline Banks (Staples High School), first place for their submission in the senior group exhibit category: “A Turning Point in Culture: The Immoral Origin and Immortal Legacy of HeLa Cells.”

Julien McMahon (Staples High School), first place in the senior individual website category: “The Shot that Echoed Across the World: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.”

Chloe Jordan and Sienna Wearsch (Staples High School), second place in the category, senior group performance: “Beyond the Boundaries of the Human and Feminist World.” 

Zayd Hemdan, Lev Piterbarg and Oliver Sunderji (Bedford Middle School), first place in the junior group documentary: “Harlem’s Golden Age: Revolution and Rebirth.”

Alina Knapp, Quinn Danbeck and Julia Riley (Bedford Middle School), third place in the junior group documentary: “The Impact of Barbie.”

Liam Harrison (Bedford Middle School), second place in the junior individual performance category: “The Wonders and Woes of a Turning Point: The Basilic Cannon’s Blast into Multiculturalism.”

Alex Sheefel (Coleytown Middle School), second place in the junior individual exhibit: “Nunca Mas, Grandmothers of Change.”

Ethan Maxwell Valencia (Coleytown Middle School), third place in the junior individual website category: “The Transistor: One Discovery Changed the World Forever.”

Kevin Cano and Will Enquist (Staples High School) won “Outstanding Entry in World History,” Senior Division, for: “The Yalta Conference: How a Secret Meeting Changed the Fate of the Post-War World.”

Teachers who worked with the Westport students on their projects include: Nell-Ayn Lynch, Staples High School; Caroline Davis and Gabrielle Tomas, Bedford Middle School, and Steve Cerny, Coleytown Middle School.