The Creation of Sesame Street: A Turning Point in Educational History

Update as of June 16th:
On June 13th, 2024 our documentary placed first in the Senior Group Documentary Category at the National competition for National History day. This is an incredible honor for both Teagan and Maura. Thank you for watching and supporting us and we are excited for what the future holds!!
This is the final version of the National History Day Project made by students Maura Armstrong and Teagan Dieterle. The two represented Connecticut at the National Competition after placing first in both the regional and state level competitions.
The Documentary focuses on how Sesame Street's creation in 1969 was a turning point in educational television and changed how we as a society can use television. It focuses on how the creator Joan Ganz Cooney wanted Sesame Street to aid all children, no matter their background.
National History Day (NHD) is an organization which focuses on helping kids gain resources and knowledge to help them as they go into High School or College. The students choose a topic which fits under the overall theme. This year (2024) is Turning Points in History. Along with this they choose the format. For our project, we chose a documentary which had to be 10 minutes or less. Depending on how well the projects do they may make their way into the National Competition.
For the final round of National History Day, Maura and Teagan wanted the project to be the very best it can be. Taking notes and feedback from judges, teachers, and anyone who would watch our project. Even utilizing new spaces in order to have clear audio throughout, and make sure it was quality work.
After the state competition in May, 2024, the documentary made its way to the National Competition held at the University of Maryland, and made it into the top ten finalists of the competition.
We would like to thank everyone for their support during this process, especially our teachers, friends, and families who continued to support us through this journey. We are forever grateful for this experience from NHD.
With all that being said, we hope you enjoy The Creation of Sesame Street: A Turning Point in Educational History.
In this project, we use music and media from Sesame Workshop along with The Jim Henson Company. We do not claim to own any of the photos or videos used within the documentary. But the script and voice over is our property.