In April, the Trump administration announced drastic funding cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Those cuts are harming education groups that rely on NEH grants — and students like me. 

Among the organizations that lost funding was National History Day, a nonprofit that runs a half-century-old competition engaging some 500,000 students annually in original historical research. It also provides teachers with resources and training. For many schools, the annual event is cemented into the social studies curriculum. 

The cuts sliced $825,000 from National History Day’s budget over several years, the group said. Meanwhile, more than half of its state-level competitions rely in part or entirely on funding from state humanities councils — which were also devastated by the cuts. 

Without that money, National History Day’s leaders say some states will likely have to cancel their programs altogether, and the national event will be scaled back, too. 

The loss of funding is discouraging to me, a high school senior in Texas who has witnessed the passage of legislation in my state and around the country in recent years limiting what can be taught in history and social studies classes. National History Day allowed me the chance to expand on what I felt was missing or inaccurate in my textbooks. The fact that there might no longer be a structured way for students to navigate incomplete curricula feels scary and is an intentional part of a broader effort by lawmakers to change how history is understood and what students can know about their past.

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At my sixth to 12th grade school in El Paso, Texas, History Day is an annual event that all middle school students participate in from September to January. They choose their topics and presentations and work to research and create a finished project as historians. 

In February, we hold a schoolwide competition, a highly anticipated event in which high schoolers serve as judges and mentors for middle school projects, ultimately deciding which students advance. High schoolers automatically advance. We have become known locally as an “NHD school” and fostered a community of students who love history.

I have participated in local and state History Day fairs since seventh grade, and the program allowed me to grow as a writer and researcher. In my junior year, I wrote a paper about British imperialism and how it led to violence during the 1947 Partition between India and Pakistan, and the lasting divisions today. 

I scoured dozens of oral histories of Partition survivors, including interviewing family members about their experiences. The self-guided nature of National History Day, the resources from my El Paso branch, and the support from my history teacher made my paper more than a project — but a connection with my Pakistani identity. I was able to go beyond just learning about the Partition, but also understanding how it shaped my family’s lives.

Related: A school district singled out by Trump says it teaches ‘whole truth history’ 

Many other students have had similar experiences with the program. 

National History Day “is a way to explore a niche or smaller area of history that I wouldn’t be able to as deeply in a classroom,” said Tessa Kipnis, a high school senior at Westtown School in Pennsylvania, who wrote her project on the Rwandan genocide and France’s role in it. “It’s helped me to expand upon my passion for storytelling and self-motivated research.” 

Added Kipnis: “It’s the student-led inquiry that is really going to dissipate with the funding being cut. And I feel with our current situation with the Department of Education and the funding and lack thereof, it’s hard not to view this funding being cut as part of a bigger piece.”

Many communities may be able to raise money to keep their local programs going. But even if my local or state National History Day programs continue, I know that not all communities will have the same resources. In turn, the national event will be missing vital perspectives of students, especially those from low-income and marginalized communities.  

Part of what makes History Day so special is interacting with other projects and building community with other students. Now, it feels exclusive.

Anita Kuriakose, a high school junior at Academies at Englewood in New Jersey, told me she shares those concerns. “[NEH funding cuts] may cause other students to be cut from the research experience, and not be able to gain more insight into historical perspectives. Students won’t be given the chance to think creatively or research more about history outside the classroom.” 

Related: Teachers struggle to teach the Holocaust without running afoul of new ‘divisive concepts’ rules

Lynne O’Hara, deputy director of educational programs at National History Day and a former social studies teacher, also told me that National History Day hinges on accessibility. “History Day is a program that should be available to all students,” she said.

“Sometimes in education, we’re just pushed to do so much and give students a little taste of all these things. But you get one topic that you really have control over and command over, and I think that really empowers students,” added O’Hara. “When I would ask my students on the last day, ‘What’s the thing you did that you were most proud of in this class?’ Ninety-nine percent of them said, ‘It was my History Day project.’” 

O’Hara told me the sense of community at my school around National History Day is common among participating schools. “When teachers participate over the years, not only does it change the way they teach, but it also creates these school cultures.” 

The idea that some students will not be able to experience History Day and the thrill that comes with choosing what they research is heartbreaking. Many history curricula already discuss the past in a way that doesn’t allow nuance, and National History Day gave me a path to explore the people, events and injustices that are traditionally ignored.

Organizations including the Oregon Humanities and the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association have sued over the cuts. In August, a federal judge characterized the Trump administration’s abrupt cancellation of the grants as unlawful and allowed the case to proceed.

The theme for the 2025-26 National History Day event is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.” I hope that in six months, I will be able to present at my local fair and that National History Day will continue to provide students nationwide with a necessary platform.

Marium Zahra is a high school senior and independent journalist based in El Paso, Texas. Her work covering social justice and youth has been published in outlets including The Nation, Prism Reports, Yes! Magazine and The Progressive.

Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at preston@hechingerreport.org. 

This story about National History Day was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.

The first words I uttered after successfully defending my dissertation were, “Wow, what a ride. From Head Start to Ph.D.!” Saying them reminded me where it all began: sitting cross-legged with a picture book at the Westside Head Start Center, just a few blocks from my childhood home in Jackson, Mississippi. 

I don’t remember every detail from those early years, but I remember the feeling: I was happy at Head Start. I remember the books, the music, the joy. That five-minute bus ride from our house to the Westside Center turned out to be the shortest distance between potential and achievement. 

And my story is not unique. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children — kids whose names we may never know, though our futures depend on them — walk through Head Start’s doors. Like me, they find structure, literacy, curiosity and belonging.  

For many families, Head Start is the first place outside the home where a child’s potential is nurtured and celebrated. Yet, this program that builds futures and strengthens families is now under threat, and it’s imperative that we protect it. 

Years later, while training for high school cross-country meets, I’d run past the park next to the center and pause, flooded with memories. Head Start laid the foundation for everything that followed. It gave me structure, sparked my curiosity and built my early literacy skills. It even fed my short-lived obsession with chocolate milk.  

More than that, Head Start made me feel seen and valued. 

Related: A lot goes on in classrooms from kindergarten to high school. Keep up with our free weekly newsletter on K-12 education. 

There’s a clear, unbroken line between the early lessons I learned at Head Start and the doctoral dissertation I defended decades later. Head Start didn’t just teach me my ABCs — it taught me that learning could be joyful, that I was capable and that I belonged in a classroom.  

That belief carried me through elementary school, Yale and George Washington University and to a Ph.D. in public policy and public administration. Now, as part of my research at the Urban Institute, I’m working to expand access to high-quality early learning, because I know firsthand what a difference it makes.  

Research backs up what my story shows: Investments in Head Start and high-quality early childhood education change lives by improving health and educational achievement in later years, and benefit the economy. Yet today there is growing skepticism about the value of Head Start, reflecting an ongoing reluctance to give early childhood education the respect it deserves.  

If Head Start funding is cut, thousands of children — especially from communities like mine in Jackson, where families worked hard but opportunities were limited — could lose access to a program that helps level the playing field. These are the children of young parents and single parents, of working families who may not have many other options but still dare to dream big for their kids.  

And that is why I am worried. Funding for Head Start has been under threat. Although President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget would maintain Head Start funding at its current $12.3 billion, Project 2025, the influential conservative policy document, calls for eliminating the program. The administration recently announced that Head Start would no longer enroll undocumented children, which a group of Democratic attorneys general say will force some programs to close.  

Related: Head Start is in turmoil