Junior year is infamous for being the most difficult and demanding year of high school. At the Upper School (US), junior year is defined by the all-important history research paper and English profile. Each year, a handful of students are recognized for their work by two panels of outside judges, who read their research papers and profiles, respectively, and then score students’ work. These scores determine who receives first, second, and third place prizes, as well as honorable mentions. For the first time in 12 years, two students were awarded the first-place history prize: Zoe Li-Khan and Walker Cox (both ’25).
US History Department Head Susan Glazer said that in all her years at the US, she has never seen two students win first.
“When the scoring came back, we had two individuals with the same score in first place. In the seven years I’ve been doing this it’s never happened, and it hasn’t happened in 12 years at the school either.
The two winning papers were very different, Ms. Glazer said.
“The papers were on very distinct topics, so to have them be recognized in that way was unusual and kind of special.”
Although only a few students were honored for their papers, the history award is meant to commend and encourage all students at the school, according to Ms. Glazer.
“I would love to be able to give every single person who completes a history paper an award. Students should feel like they’ve accomplished a lot with this assignment,” she said. “We really want to celebrate the students’ hard work, especially because there aren’t a lot of opportunities in the humanities to give students that recognition.”
The third-place history prize went to Ruhan Karthik ’25, whose paper considered how Malcom X’s absence influenced the fall of the Nation of Islam. His biggest piece of advice for future juniors writing the research paper was to appreciate the process.
“I would just say that it’s important to enjoy researching and writing the paper and to be proud of the work you’ve done,” he said.
Josh Curhan ’25 won the second-place history prize and wrote about the American Zionist movement in the early 1900s and the ongoing Israel- Palestinian conflict. He liked the experience and recommended that students choose a topic they can expand upon.
“I would pick a topic that relates to a current day event or a topic that’s really personal to you that you care about or that you have a lot of opinions on,” he said. “That’s how you’re going to write the best paper, and how you can be most invested in the work.”
Zoe’s first-place paper connected the abortion movement in the 1800s to gender and race. Zoe said she was proud of the sources she was able to find but wishes she broadened her argument.
“I was most proud of my primary sources because that is something I spent a lot of time researching,” she said. “Something I would change is finding out more about the general public’s perspective on abortion in addition to the physicians who spearheaded the movement. My paper focused more on the physicians’ arguments, as they were the ones who ran the movement, but it would be interesting to see how the public responded to this and what they thought.”
For his winning history paper, Walker wrote about the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. He interviewed his cousin, whowenttowarinIraqasa primary source, which allowed him to gain and convey a better understanding of his topic.
“I got to see his perspective of the war compared to perspectives of newspapers and politicians. Being able to show an actual veteran’s perspective, I felt, was really important for the profile.”
Walker was also honored with a second-place prize for his English profile about a boat carpenter from Charlestown. He was proud to touch on important topics throughout his piece, he said.
“In my subject’s life, she had experienced a lot of anxiety and depression, and so I’m proud that I was able to make that an element of the paper but not define her by it.”
Sophia Stafford ’25 wrote the winning profile. Her subject was a nurse in a dementia care facility. Sophia was surprised to hear her name called out at assembly, she said.
“I was not expecting it. I was very excited to have gotten an honorable mention, so I was shocked.”
Sophia encouraged future writers to pick a subject they’re passionate about.
“I would say pick a subject that you think is really interesting. Try to find something really special and unique. Everyone has a really cool story to tell.”
