NEWS

Maynard twins behind historic win for Warwick

Posted 7/6/22

By ANNILESE DEMERS

John and Joshua Maynard from Toll Gate High School placed 2nd Nationally in the Senior Group Exhibit Division on the topic of The Compromise of 1877 in the National History Day …

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NEWS

Maynard twins behind historic win for Warwick

Posted

By ANNILESE DEMERS


John and Joshua Maynard from Toll Gate High School placed 2nd Nationally in the Senior Group Exhibit Division on the topic of The Compromise of 1877 in the National History Day Competition (NHD). The Maynards are the first students from Warwick to ever place in the top three at the National level of the NHD competition in the over 40 years students have been competing.

John and Joshua Maynard are freshmen at Toll Gate and identical twins.

“I’ve never had twins that work so well together and listen to one another to collaborate. They are extremely respectful and receptive to feedback which is very refreshing,” said Dr. Thalia Wood, Head of the Social Studies Department at Toll Gate. “They have such an artistic eye and the ability to place the documents and pieces in such a way that tells a story.”

All Freshman in Honors History at Toll Gate are required to participate in National History Day.

The boys agreed that they had big shoes to fill considering both their older siblings, Samuel and Sophia Maynard went to nationals for their NHD project. The boys chose to do an exhibit to display their work, The Compromise of 1877.

“Looking back maybe a paper would have better been a better idea,” joked Josh Maynard.

The boys were also chosen to talk about their project in a 5-minute video for the Smithsonian American History Museum. Each state competing in NHD was instructed to choose one project to represent their state in the video.

“We really want to thank the Toll Gate Social Studies Department and especially Dr. Wood. We couldn’t do this without them,” said the Maynards.

Dr. Wood has been working for Warwick Public Schools for 32 years and has served as Toll Gate Social Studies Department head for 14 years. She was introduced to the NHD competition when she first began working in the schools in 1990. On top of annually sending students to the National level of the NHD competition, many of Dr. Woods's students have won other awards.

A couple of years ago she was able to accompany Rebecca Carcieri on a trip to Normandy which she won for her work in researching a fallen soldier of WWII. This year one of Dr. Woods's students, Katherine Sweeney, won an all-expense-paid trip to The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Sweeney won the Billy Michal Student Leadership Award.

Dr. Wood also highlighted Patricia Buffington, Toll Gate Librarian, and the boys' history teacher Sharon Franco. Toll Gate High school hosted the NHD competition this year and will be hosting it next year as well.

Maynard twins, National History Day Competition

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