Five Orange County students recently received the $2,500 Outstanding High School Project award at the National Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Discovery Award competition. Their winning entry was a group documentary film highlighting Japanese American artist Miné Okubo.
The students, Eunhyeok “Joseph” Lee, Minseo “Leon” Chung, Grace Na, Hosan “Harvard” Kim, and Ethan Yo, earned the recognition for their film, “Miné Okubo: The Unsung Hero Who Drew What America Tried to Hide.” The documentary explores Okubo’s experiences during World War II and underscores the importance of her artwork in depicting the realities of Japanese American incarceration.
The film was crafted under the supervision of Nancy Alcala, a teacher from Orange County School of the Arts. Ms. Alcala stated that there is “something truly transformative about empowering students to collaborate, research and create alongside their peers.” The students utilized a variety of sources for their project, including paintings, photos, video, newspaper clips, graphics, and footage from various interviews.
According to Ms. Alcala, the concept for the documentary originated from last year’s National History Day competition. During that event, Lee and Yo, both students at Orange County School of the Arts, collaborated on a different film. That earlier project examined how Asian American artists have used their work to expose injustices and document history, leading them to learn about works such as Okubo’s book “Citizen 13660.”
Lee’s interest in the subject prompted him to establish Asian American Artists, an organization dedicated to honoring and preserving stories of Asian American history through art. Through this organization, Lee and Yo connected with Chung, Na, and Kim, who attend Northwood High School, Beckman High School, and Crean Lutheran High School, respectively.
Julie Hull, OCDE’s coordinator of National History Day–Orange County, noted that participation in such projects often extends beyond the competition season, opening doors for further learning and the pursuit of passions. When the Discovery Award competition was announced, the opportunity for students from different schools to collaborate and delve deeper into their interests proved compelling.
The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes sponsors the Discovery Awards annually to encourage students in grades four through twelve to research and highlight lesser-known historical figures. The program emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, and historical research. This year, the competition awarded more than $25,000 across 14 projects. The students’ documentary, along with other winning projects, is available on the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes website.
