Nassau Kid Wins Grand Prize For 'Unsung Heroes' Entry

JERICHO, NY — A Jericho middle school student has won the grand prize in an international competition for her work in telling the story of a philanthropist who drummed up American support to bring Polish survivors from a concentration camp to the United States.

Michelle Dong, an eighth grader at Jericho Middle School, won $6,000 in the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes' 2019 Discovery Award competition, the organization announced Monday. The competition is designed to have kids come up with creative research projects to learn about and share the stories of positive role models — hence the "Unsung Heroes" title — who played a significant role in history but aren't household names.

Dong researched and created a website for her entry "Caroline Ferriday and the Ravensbruck Lapins." She explored how Nazis performed inhumane medical experiments on women prisoners at the concentration camp, leaving them unable to walk properly. The prisoners had to hop around the camp because of the tests and Nazis referred to them as "lapins," or rabbits.

Ferriday revealed the atrocities and helped get the victims financial compensation from the West German government.

Norm Conard, the organization's executive director, presented Dong with the grand prize during a special assembly at the middle school.

"Michelle told Caroline Ferriday’s fascinating story by using in-depth research skills and multi-media resources, then presented it in a very thorough and organized website," said Conard. "Each Discovery Award recipient uncovered an Unsung Hero whose contributions deserve to be recognized. We congratulate these wonderful students and their teachers."

Six prizes in all are awarded to elementary, middle and high school students across the country and abroad.