Herricks Middle School is proud to announce that Abigail Mannino and Liliana Paciaroni won first place at the National History Day Finals in Maryland last week with their Junior Group Performance titled, This Is Our Story: How the Revolutionary Reaction of the “Code Girls” During World War II Led to Reforms in Cryptology. 

The project has now won first place at the Regional, State and National level at which they were named top project out of 85 entries at the national contest.

Liliana and Abigail were inspired to create this project after reading Code Girls by Liza Mundy. In their performance, they portray two female code breakers from WWII who helped to turn the tide of the war. They visited the National Cryptologic Museum in Maryland and emailed several national archives gathering a wealth of research to make sure their project was stellar.

Creating their project under the guidance of their parents and NHD Club Advisers Amanda Banke and Jodi Thompson, this win is the culmination of three years of participation in the program. The Herricks community is proud of the hard work and dedication these young women have shown.