The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes announced that five Jericho students earned top recognition in the Discovery Awards, an international history competition that received hundreds of submissions. The center visited the district on Tuesday, Sept. 16, to present the winners with scholarships totaling $9,000. In addition to the winners, the center recognized 12 semifinalists and finalists.
But the students weren’t the only ones to come out on top, because for the second consecutive year, the Jericho district earned the Discovery Awards’ Outstanding School Award.
“We’ve never had a school like Jericho in our competition in the 15 years we’ve been doing it,” said Norm Conard, the CEO of the Lowell Milken Center.
He said the competition has grown “tremendously,” garnering hundreds of applications, some of which come internationally. The annual competition prompts students to research an unsung hero in history and share their story through a documentary, website, or performance.
Conard said this year’s projects were “stronger than ever before.” He said there were 13 students selected for prizes, 24 finalists and 46 semifinalists.
Earlier this summer, Jericho Middle School educators Theresa Cantwell and Valerie Conklin were two of 12 teachers selected to visit the center’s headquarters in Kansas for a fellowship, based on the school’s performance in last year’s competition. He said the center recently built a museum, which houses approximately 30 projects dedicated to historic “role models.”
This year, five Jericho students represented the 13 who earned scholarships for their performance in the competition.
High schoolers Jay Patel and Rayan Hasan earned the $6,000 grand prize for their documentary, “The Unsung Hero of Industrial Health: Alice Hamilton’s Responsibility in Shaping Industrial Health Policies.” The project highlighted the work of physician Alice Hamilton, who shaped national health and safety policies.
High schoolers Ara Woo and Chloe Hu earned the $2,500 Outstanding High School Project Award for their documentary, “From Oppression to Action and Solidarity: Yuri Kochiyama, and Unsung Hero in Activism,” which explored Yuri Kochiyama’s social justice work.
Middle schooler Ananya Kavi earned a $500 Certificate of Excellence Award for a website dedicated to Dr. May Edward Chinn, one of the first African American women physicians in New York City.
Twelve other Jericho middle and high schoolers were named finalists and semifinalists, including Nicholas Wang, Nilani Ramesh, Alice Liu, Jianna Anand, Ryan Chan, Yifan Gao, Alan Zhang, Vihaan Kaushik, Andrew Zeng, Isabelle Deon, Kaitlyn Chun, and Judy Liang.
“We just love the students at Jericho. They’re so incredibly bright, but they have a love of learning, which we want to see in all of our students,” Conard said.
In addition to the Discover Awards, the center also runs the ARTEFFECT competition, which recognizes students’ artwork depicting unsung heroes in history. Jericho student Grace Zhang placed second for her painting in June and earned a $1,000 scholarship.
“We salute the students of New York, Long Island, and across the country and internationally who compete in this program because their documentaries are so well done, their performances are so well done, their websites,” Conard said.
