A rehearsed monologue, a revised paper, or a riveting documentary? These are just three of the five project styles that National History Day Competition participants undertook in the regional competition two weeks ago, in a contest to determine the most creative product, inspired by the theme: “Communication, a Key to Understanding.” CVHS Juniors David and Ronald Rauch’s projects proved to be the most communicative, as both took home first place in website creation and performance, respectively. This was Ronnie’s second year taking home first place in regionals, and David’s first time competing, ever.

The twins’ success at the competition obviously holds true to the nature of Carnegie students, and their ability to achieve academically. However, it might also hint at some existence of a more mystic link between the two; a mental synchronicity allowing them to coordinate for mutual benefit in endeavors of the mind. Individually, each twin is a marvel of intelligence and mental profundity, but together, might they be an unstoppable force of twin power?

“I was looking for activities for us to do at the History Club and I found out about National History Day. I thought, huh, that’s cool. So, we decided to try it,” says Ronnie, the older of the two.

The Rauch twins base their origin as leaders of Carnegie’s History club, where they satisfy their vigorous interest in history, and got a jump start on enrolling in the competition. Deciding to try it came with a lot more provocation than Ronnie humbly lets on. David explains his motivation behind participating:

“I was going to read up about [the topic] anyway, and it was a perfect excuse for me to learn all about what I wanted to learn, without saying that I’m wasting time instead of studying for other classes, you know,” says David.

David’s focus was a topic shrouded in political opinion and ideological conflict: the Cold War. Why would a high school junior choose such a complex and elaborate topic? Well, David has an ancestral connection to this part of history:

“I’ve always been interested in this era, because I have family from the former Soviet Union,” David explains. “My project initially started as a study of the communication in the Soviet Union and propaganda there, however I had run into a major roadblock in the fact that my Russian ability is limited. As I was reading, I had seen a lot of sources about American propaganda and thought, ‘I can read this language,’ so I shifted my focus to that. At first I was unsure, but then once I read about McCarthyism and the way that, for example, constitutional rights were infringed upon during the trials, I found it kind of cool and I was actually interested. So I did some reading and expanded my project.”

Ronnie’s topic was more classical, a study of the Enlightenment era in Europe. A similarly ideological time period, notable for its lasting and impactful writings and works of art.

“The Enlightenment, which was an intellectual movement that put the focus on freedom and liberty, and basically inspired the American Revolution,” Ronnie explains, “wasn’t just adopted by revolutionaries; they were also used by people like Catherine the Great, who was a super absolutist. A lot of times the ideals of the Enlightenment are used to actually take away people’s rights, instead of protecting their rights and freedoms. I found it ironic, especially because it happens still today.”

The two projects were from different eras, different locations, and had different creators, yet David and Ronnie were able to find the corresponding element between them.

“Like my brother brought up, during the Cold War trials and the Red Scare, they claimed to be protecting freedom, even though in reality they’re taking them away,” Ronnie says.

While both the brothers showed enthusiasm for this learning opportunity, they simultaneously lamented over the lack of representation their topics receive in regular class.

“A lot of times they don’t mention stuff in our textbooks,” Ronnie says. “That sounds kind of dystopian, but it is actually depressingly true: there’s a lot of events that were not so good, that isn’t so much mentioned in our textbooks, that should be.”

“I enjoyed this period of history as a whole,” David says, “but we’ve never really learned about it in history class, until APUSH, so I was excited to cover some new ground, and see how all of this affects us today. All the things we’re learning are all very relevant in national politics. For example, at the end of my project I talk about how something that President Joe Biden has said in a speech this February, 2021, echoed some things that I’d read about from that time period.”

Not only in national politics is history relevant, according to the twins, but in the progression of life in general.

“History explains why things happened, why things are, and how things will probably turn out in the future,” says Ronnie. “Learning about what we did wrong, what other people did wrong, is really important.”