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# Four Newton High School students named semifinalists for national unsung heroes award
- URL: https://www.citizenjournal.us/four-newton-high-school-students-named-semifinalists-for-national-unsung-heroes-award/
- Published: 2026-09-01T16:22:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T16:22:22.000Z
- Description: The students are among 59 teens competing for the Lowell Milken Center Discovery Award
- Author: Greg Loving
- Tags: ncj, dnn, #news

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Four Newton High School students were named semifinalists for the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Discovery Award, distinguishing themselves in a highly competitive and record-breaking year for the contest. The Newton students are among 59 semifinalists chosen from across the United States and Canada after the Fort Scott-based educational center expanded the competition to include all public, private and homeschooled students in grades 9 to 12\. The annual award challenges youths to research and creatively present the stories of impactful but historically overlooked individuals, with the final winners scheduled to be announced Wednesday, Sept. 16.

The Newton semifinalists relied on websites and documentary filmmaking to bring their chosen subjects to a broader audience. Finn Curran built a website on early radiology pioneer Eugene Wilson Caldwell, Emerson Gering built a website on educator Jane Elliot and her influential “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” experiment, Rhett Stucky built a website on Father Emil Kapaun, a Kansas-born military chaplain who served heroically during World War II and the Korean War, and Gadiel Espada created a documentary exploring the legacy of Japanese record producer and lo-fi composer Nujabes.

*This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our* [*AI policy*](https://www.citizenjournal.us/ai-policy/)*.*

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