As a kid, Easton Middle School Social Studies Teacher Lindsey Matthews dreamed of a career as an underwater photographer.
“I had this really cool book that had 3D pictures of fish. And I thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” Matthews, who received the Maryland History Day Middle School Teacher of the Year Award, says. Sometimes students ask her what job she’d have if she weren’t teaching. “Looking back, I’d be an archaeologist or sociologist because I just like figuring out people.”
Matthews’ early photography dreams indicate her affinity for storytelling. Social studies, says the teacher who initially trained to pursue political science, is “all about the people, the relationships, how and why things happen the way they happen.”
Relationships students have to their Maryland History Day topics help make Matthews’ experience with the program fulfilling. She discusses an interview with a student who “academically struggles” and created an impressive project. Matthews uses the Maryland History Day model to interview all her students about their process, even if they don’t formally compete.
“He told me that his great-great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor. I was like, ‘Wait a second, we’ve been working on this project for two months, and you didn’t tell me that’s why you picked Pearl Harbor? So that was kind of eye-opening,” Matthews says. “There were more connections than I even realized between my kids and what they were doing.”
Another student, one who will compete at the Maryland History Day State Contest this weekend, “got to interview her grandmother and friends who live in Europe and experienced a different lifestyle and lived through the fall of the Soviet Union,” says Matthews.
“Seeing her kind of dig into her own personal past and seeing that connection to what she does in school is interesting.” While students finished working on the project in class more than a month ago, this student opted to keep working. During the interview, Matthews says the student continues to send her interview questions and quotations.
A student who nominated Matthews for the Maryland History Day Middle School Teacher of the Year Award writes, “She is the best teacher, and helped us with everything…She’s worked so hard helping everyone you’d think it was her project. She’s the best Social Studies teacher I’ve ever had.”
Matthews’ interest in people and problem-solving extends to serving as advisor for the school’s Junior Honor Society and teaching at Easton Middle’s evening school program. She also teaches Instructional Reading, a pilot program for students who don’t have documentation for learning disabilities but who still have learning gaps.
Jackie Valcik, Curriculum Supervisor for Social Studies, describes Matthews as “a leader, a huge asset to our entire department, not even just Easton Middle, but she’s the one that’s really sparked this entire History Day and then…taught her colleagues,” continues Valcik. “It’s not just that she’s willing to take on anything, to do anything for any student… I know that she inspires her students every day.”
Another student who nominated Matthews for the award writes, “I can’t imagine being able to get this far without her encouragement and support.”
Matthews calls Maryland History Day, a program from Maryland Humanities, the “most real-life social studies task that we can really provide kids” and feels its uniqueness really lies in “the student agency,” in students selecting their own topics from a broad theme.
“We spend 180 days telling kids what they’re going to learn, and this is their chance to really kind of flip the script and take control of what they’re going to learn,” she says. “We guide them…use it as teachable moments to teach skills and processes, but it’s one of the few times where they actually get control, and seeing how that can kind of change some students’ minds on what social studies and what history is, it’s neat.”
Sam Manelski, recipient of the Maryland History Day State High School Teacher of the Year Award, also loves how the program’s open topic selection means the students’ interest can drive and shape their project.
Maryland History Day “gives them the opportunity to pick something that they are really passionate about or find really fascinating and really explore it. I think it’s great,” says the History Department Chair at Loyola Blakefield in Towson. This year marks Manelski’s thirteenth year at the school. He comes to History Day as a former student as well as a teacher.
“It’s a great project in [that] it requires a lot of long-term planning, it requires a lot of research, it requires a lot of effort. It requires public presentation and speaking skills, like all these things that I think are super important for students to build competency in. And I think it’s great for them to be able to kind of explore their passions and explore their interests and build really valuable skills.”
Manelski feels like the program helps students with “learning how to research, learning how to write research questions, learning how to overcome adversity when you’re researching,” he says. “And sometimes things don’t go the way they’re supposed to, and learning how to write and talk to people and face those challenges is a huge, huge, huge piece.”
Students also learn “how to form their own opinions” and “how to be critical consumers of information” through Maryland History Day, which he says boosts the confidence of his students.
“Making a 10-minute documentary about something you kind of barely heard of three months ago,” Manelski says as an example, “It’s a lot of work, and then they put a lot of effort into it and I think it helps them kind of realize what they’re capable of….They prove to themselves that they’re smart and motivated.”
A student who nominated Manelski for the award writes that learning to form opinions is part of the reason they nominated him.
“When we take tests and quizzes,” the student writes, “they are not about whether we can memorize something and circle the answer, but they are about making us form our own opinions and almost coming up with answers to why things happened.”
Manelski, who also runs the school’s Model U.N., thinks History Day helps students “discover what’s great about history,” but his own teaching style has an influence over that. “I have never had a teacher that has been so genuinely excited to help his students have a great time while learning,” writes another student who nominated Manelski. “I have never enjoyed learning about history so much.”
Another student nominator writes that Manelski “has a contagious love and passion for history that has really been able to benefit myself and my fellow peers. He is also very knowledgeable about practically every part of history and is always willing to share more information about certain periods of history,” the student continues.
“Mr. Manelski is an unsung hero,” writes a third student. “Mr. Manelski’s passion drives his students to exploring new heights… he is very kind to us with the help he gives when we struggle in APUSH [Advanced Placement United States History] exam. Taking his class, I not only feel highly confident for the APUSH exam, but also better prepared in understanding the world around me and better pushed toward my potential in life.”
Matthews and Manelski, the 2025 Maryland History Day Statewide Middle and High School Teachers of the Year, respectively, will be honored at the Awards Ceremony portion at the Maryland History Day State Contest on May 3. Annually, the Maryland Humanities team selects one middle school and one high school teacher for the statewide honor.