Best in State: Ava Lincender ’28 Earns Top Honor at National History Day
By Kara McDuffee
When Brewster Academy sent students to the New Hampshire State Finals of National History Day for the first time this spring, history teacher Jon Browher described what set them apart: the heart and soul they brought to their research, and the way they connected their topics to their own values. A few weeks later, those students took that work to Washington, D.C., and one came home with the highest honor New Hampshire had to give.
Ava Lincender '28 had spent months crafting something unusual. Her Individual Performance project imagined the letter Abigail Adams might have wished to send to her husband John while he helped draft the Declaration of Independence, giving voice to a woman watching a revolution unfold while her own rights went unaddressed. At the New Hampshire State Finals in April, judges were so convinced by her delivery that they initially believed the letter was authentic. She finished second in her category and earned the Outstanding Revolutionary War History Award, presented to the best submission tied to a Revolutionary Era topic across the entire competition.
At nationals in Washington, D.C., the recognition went further. National judges named Ava Best in State for the Senior division, the single highest honor awarded to one high school student from each state delegation. It's the kind of outcome that speaks to what happens when a student goes beyond the assignment and builds something she genuinely believes in.
Classmate Michael Jozokos '27 also competed at nationals, having won first place in the Papers category at states with his research on the history of closed captioning in American media. As Michael put it after states: "For me, history is a mode of thinking, one cultivated by my time at Brewster." At nationals, his paper impressed judges for its heart, purpose, and originality, finishing in the top half to top third of all entries and coming close to advancing to the final round, falling just short of selection.
National History Day draws more than half a million students globally, with just one percent advancing to the national level. At Brewster Academy, the program was guided by history teacher Jon Browher and championed by Assistant Head of School James Reilly, who helped bring National History Day to campus and supported the logistics of getting students to nationals.
In its very first year of competing, this New Hampshire boarding school produced a state champion, a national qualifier, and a student who stood in Washington, D.C. and was recognized as the best in New Hampshire.
It's exciting to think about what's to come.
