September 18, 2024
Vol. 8
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Announcing the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes
2024 National Discovery Award Winners!
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Dr. Toni Guglielmo of the Lowell Milken Family Foundation (pictured on the right) presented the 2024 National Discovery Award Grand Prize to Harmony Yan-Li from Irvine High School (CA) on behalf of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes.
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For its 2024 National Discovery Award competition, the Lowell Milken Center in Fort Scott has awarded over $25,000 in cash prizes to elementary, middle and high school students. This annual competition is designed to inspire students to develop primary and secondary research projects that share the powerful historical impact of unsung heroes whose stories are little-known.
California’s Irvine High School student Harmony Yan-Li was surprised with the news that she is the $6,000 Grand Prize winner of the Lowell Milken Center’s annual National Discovery Award competition. Dr. Toni Guglielmo of the Lowell Milken Family Foundation presented the award to Harmony in front of a group of classmates, family, school officials, and her supervising teacher, Jennifer Harrington. Together, they celebrated and viewed Harmony’s inspiring Unsung Hero documentary, Turning from Tragedy: The Unsung Story of Frances Kelsey and the Thalidomide Scandal.
LMC Executive Director Norm Conard shared his thoughts, “Harmony Yan-Li’s project will be proudly shared in our Hall of Unsung Heroes. Her powerful documentary about pharmacologist and physician Frances Kelsey masterfully relates the courage of Dr. Kelsey in taking a bold stand against the use of Thalidomide in the United States, averting a further crisis for women and their unborn children.”
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A memorable moment from our Zoom meeting as Rehan Mathew Koshy learns he is the 2024 National Discovery Award First Place winner.
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The $3,000 First Place prize was awarded to high school student Rehan Mathew Koshy from Walter Payton College Prep in Illinois. His documentary, Ensign Jane Kendeigh: Angel to the Rescue, shares the story of Unsung Hero Jane Kendeigh, the first female US Navy flight nurse to land in Iwo Jima during WWII. Rehan’s supervising teacher was Allison Gillick.
Kaitlyn Choi and Madison Choi, students at Jericho High School in New York, were the winners of the $2,500 Outstanding High School Project award, presented to them by LMC Executive Director Norm Conard. Kaitlyn and Madison’s website, Being (Judy) Heumann: Champion for the Rights of the Disabled, emotionally relates the determination of Unsung Hero Judy Heumann to represent the rights of disabled people in our society. Brian Dussel was their supervising teacher.
The $2,000 Outstanding Middle School Project award was presented by LMC Executive Director Norm Conard in New York to Jericho Middle School student Jay Patel for his documentary, The Color of Blood: Dr. Charles Drew, An Unsung Hero in Blood Preservation. Charles Drew’s transformation in blood preservation and the establishment of blood banks helped save millions of lives during World War II and continues to save lives today. Teacher Michelle Vevante supervised his project.
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More photos from the Jericho H.S. and M.S. presentations will be featured in a future newsletter!
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LMC Program Director Megan Felt awarded the Founder’s Award to students Anna McLaughlin and Danika Szopinski from Seaman High School in Topeka, KS. Their documentary, Bela Hazan: The Courier Who Redefined Resistance and Changed History, shares the important but unknown story of a young Jewish victim of the Holocaust. As a courier and member of the Jewish Resistance, Hazan smuggled information, money, and other goods to ghettos during the Holocaust. Susan Sittenauer was their supervising teacher for the project.
The Outstanding International Project was awarded to high school students in Cherkasy, Ukraine. Their website, Oleksandra Shulezhko: The story of a woman who saved more than a hundred children during World War II, is a powerful testament to the efforts of the Ukrainian teacher who courageously sheltered and saved dozens of Jewish children during the Holocaust. Feature coming soon!
The $1,500 Outstanding Elementary School Project award was presented to Christian Learning Center students Charlee Wells and Hadley Wells by LMC Program Director Megan Felt in Fort Scott, KS. Their documentary, Etching Voices: An Unsung Hero in the Recording and Music Industry, shares the story of Unsung Hero Emile Berliner, whose invention of the gramophone greatly impacted the accessibility and affordability of recorded music for people throughout the world. The supervising teacher was Rachel Wells.
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LMC Program Director Megan Felt is pictured with students Danika Szopinski and Anna McLaughlin, creators of the 2024 National Discovery Award Founder’s Award-winning project on Unsung Hero Bela Hazan, alongside their teacher, Susan Sittenauer, a 2014 LMC Fellow.
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Hadley Wells and Charlee Wells, students from Christian Learning Center in Fort Scott, Kansas, proudly display the check they were awarded for winning the Outstanding Elementary School Project.
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In addition to these outstanding 2024 Discovery Award entries, other students and teachers were honored for their excellent work. The following seven projects received Certificate of Excellence awards:
- Student Aprameyan Ramanujan, Spring Hill Elementary in VA, (Teacher Shvetha Ramanujan) Warrior on Wheels – Judith Heumann, the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement
- Student Jackson Mehmen, Nashua-Plains Middle School in IA, (Teacher Suzy Turner) Dr. Norman Borlaug: Scientist and Humanitarian
- Students Rayan and Rumaisa Hasan, Jericho Middle School in NY), (Teachers Laura Suchopar, Marci Kivo and Michelle Vevante) Jean Heller: The Unsung Hero Who Paved the Way for American Bioethics
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Additionally, the following were also recognized:
- National Outstanding Discovery Award Teacher: Chris Dier, Benjamin Franklin High School, New Orleans, LA
- Outstanding Teacher Awards: Megan Helberg, Loup County Public Schools, (NE); Tami Lunsford, Newark Charter School, (NJ); Miranda Spina and Jayda Pugliese, St. Mary Interparochial School (PA)
- Outstanding School Award: Jericho High School and Middle School (NY)
Jericho Teachers: Michelle Vevante, Theresa Cantwell, James Lawlor, Laura Suchopar, Pamela Travis, Marci Kivo, Brian Dussel, Sarah Espinal, Konstantine Kovoros, Randi Sambursky, and Dr. Eric Sandberg
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Chris Dier from Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, LA, and a 2023 LMC Fellow, was named the National Discovery Award Outstanding Teacher. Chris was recognized for his exceptional contributions to the Discovery Award competition and for student engagement.
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LMC Executive Director Norm Conard pictured with students from Jericho High School and Middle School, recipients of the 2024 National Discovery Award Outstanding School Award. Their dedication and teamwork as a district earned them this prestigious recognition.
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LMC’s Discovery Award provides a unique opportunity for US and International students in grades 4 through 12 to research primary sources and use their talents to develop projects that showcase the power of one person to make positive change in the world. “Real heroes tower and guide,” said LMC Founder Lowell Milken. “But their stories need to be discovered and heard. When we do, we have the opportunity to motivate new generations to aspire to values that are essential during the challenging times we face individually, as a nation, and as a world community.”
Submissions for the next competition season are due July 1, 2025. Project work may begin immediately.
Established in 2007, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes (LMC) discovers, develops, and communicates the stories of unsung heroes who have profoundly and positively impacted history, yet are largely unrecognized by contemporary generations. The LMC has reached over 3,300,000 students and 44,000 schools in all 50 states and countries worldwide. Learn more about LMC and the Discovery Award.
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