This summer marked a historic victory for DIS at the National History Day (NHD) finals at the University of Maryland. From June 6 to 14, students competed among top middle and high school historians with the annual theme: Rights and Responsibilities in History.
Three DIS projects and eight participants made it to the finals — two Senior Group Documentaries (sophomores Sophie Lee, Haydn Mangione, Bryan Lee) (freshmen Agnew Kim, Kaylie Jeong, William Seo, Roy Kim) and one Junior Individual Website (eighth grader Kelly Park).
This year, the Jets earned the greatest accomplishment in DIS history. The sophomore senior group documentary not only advanced but placed first. Mr. Kaschub said, “Sophie, Bryan and Haydn’s group was the first group from NHD Korea that won the NHD competition.” The previous top finishers at DIS were second place winners in 2016. Those scholars earned admissions to top universities including Brown, Yale-Singapore, USC and Johns Hopkins.
The winning documentary titled “The Right to Write: The Korean Language Society’s Fight for Their Mother’s Tongue” explored how the Korean Language Society resisted Japanese colonial assimilation efforts and preserved and defended the Korean language. As freshman, some of those same students advanced to the final round at the international competition last year, but fell short of the podium.
“I honestly can’t believe that actually happened. It feels so surreal. Everyone in my team deserves the honors. I don’t exactly know how to describe how I feel. It still hasn’t hit me,” said Sophie Lee.
Sophie Lee attributed their achievement to painstaking research. “We worked really hard, especially our team member Haydn. He worked at least 30 minutes a day on writing the script. We interviewed a ton of people, got multiple perspectives, and spent a lot of time making sure that every checkmark on the rubric was fulfilled.”
She also emphasized that their documentary was local, which set their project apart. “First of all, the uniqueness of the topic was important. We’re Koreans, and we know how to speak the language. Probably not a lot of people in the Nationals know how the language was created or preserved. The judges said it was their first time hearing anything about this.”
Throughout the course of investigation, not all was smooth sailing. “Our topic helps us stand out, but because we’re Koreans, it’s hard to view this topic from a completely unbiased perspective. To present the story objectively, we tried to include multiple viewpoints and ensure that our judges didn’t think we were just being patriotic,” Sophie Lee said.
Park also received recognition with the Outstanding Entry Award for her category, another first for DIS in recent years.
NHD Korea coordinator Mr. Nave praised this year’s competition. “This is the most people we’ve ever brought to the finals. I hope next year it’s even bigger. Organizing this many people is a challenge, but to get nearly 100 people from Korea here is impressive,” he said.
“Just being here is a great accomplishment. I hope students take away the fact that this is the payoff for six or seven months of hard work. It’s a moment to enjoy,” Mr. Nave said.
Aside from the medals, students also formed lifelong memories. “It was amazing seeing all the states and foreign countries come together. Everyone was chanting their state name and songs, and it was so full of passion,” said Mabel Dussault, a junior from New Hampshire.
With record participation and top international honors, DIS topped last year’s achievements. Mr. Kaschub’s strong mentorship proved to be critical in this year’s success. “Special thank you to Mr. Nick Kaschub for his leadership of the Daegu NHD program, which remains the strongest in Korea and consistently brings the largest contingent of students to the National History Day Finals,” said Mr. Nave.
