Emily Shutman Captures Marie Wanek Essay Prize
Emily Shutman isn’t just one of the top members of Huntington High School’s Class of 2016, she’s gaining a national reputation for academic excellence, too. The senior has captured the Marie Wanek High School Essay Prize presented by the Association for Asian Studies’ Mid-Atlantic region.
Ms. Shutman’s essay, “The Tientsin Massacre: A Violent Outbreak and an Abrogation of Responsibility” grabbed the attention of judges, who were impressed by the depth of the teenager’s work.
“Congratulations on producing a work of the highest quality,” wrote Salisbury University anthropology professor Dr. Linda E. Dwyer, chair of the Marie Wanek Committee, in a letter to Ms. Shutman. “The committee found your essay a delight to read for its quality of research, analysis and mastery of style. This is an exceptional work.”
“Emily is an accomplished and well-rounded student, but her achievements in the historical realm have been particularly impressive,” Huntington Superintendent James W. Polansky said. “Her many years of outstanding work as a National History Day competition participant has earned her well-deserved acclaim. It comes as no surprise that her research on the Tientsin Massacre rose to the top in the recent essay competition. She provides a shining example how pursuing one's interests can foster uncapped potential.”
The essay prize is named for Marie Wanek, a teacher and scholar committed to Asian studies who served as president of Association for Asian Studies’ Mid-Atlantic region chapter.
“Emily understood this topic on a level comparable with an upper level college student,” said Joseph Leavy, Huntington’s chair of humanities for grades 7-12. “The Tianjin Massacre was the result of an unfortunate intercultural misunderstanding between the oppressed Chinese in that city a century ago who were subject to imperial rule by outside Westerners and those very Westerners, some of whom had no malcontent, but whose religion and practices were misunderstood by the Chinese. Emily astutely demonstrated these nuanced causes of the crisis, and forwarded a sophisticated thesis, which adds to the current scholarship, wherein mixed perspectives lay the blame differently depending on who tells the story.”
Ms. Shutman and her family have been invited to the organization’s business luncheon at the University of Pittsburgh’s University Club next month for an award ceremony.
The Huntington senior’s essay earlier won first place in a field of 26 finalists at the Long Island regional National History Day competition at Hofstra University last spring. It went on to garner the Farmers’ Museum Award as the state championship in Cooperstown.
The award winning essay required countless hours of research and analysis, plus many more to put it in written form and refine it until it reached its final state.
Ms. Shutman has been mentored for several years by Huntington High School social studies Lauren Desiderio, who is the history club advisor and coordinates the school’s National History Day initiative.
“I consider myself lucky to have been able to work with Emily Shutman since her freshman year of high school,” Mrs. Desiderio said. “Through our interactions in the classroom and the National History Day Club, I have been able to witness firsthand Emily’s passion for learning, history and her growth as an individual and leader. Without a doubt, Emily’s talent for writing is unparalleled. It is extremely difficult to construct a plausible and persuasive argument as it requires a clear, comprehensive and analytical thesis that must be supported by relevant historical evidence. Emily took on this challenge and dove into her research when she began working on this award winning paper. She went above and beyond researching the Tianjin Massacre reaching out to experts in Asian and Chinese studies and even went as far as translating a French primary source into English so she could extract useful information and draw appropriate conclusions from the evidence she found. I don’t know many teenagers her age that would go to such great lengths!”
Mr. Leavy said Ms. Shutman and Mrs. Desiderio have inspired others to develop the craft of a historian and seek to understand how to go about “interpreting history and perceive nuances of motivation and multiple perspectives as a thesis is designed. Both Emily in her experience as a writer entering this challenging category and Lauren as lead teacher of National History Day have inspired and motivated scores of students in enhancing their projects.”
Ms. Shutman did more than just spend time in the library and in front of her computer, reviewing sources and background information during the development of her award winning project.
“She also had an experiential, first-hand encounter with the city of Tianjin, to which she travelled in the summer of 2013 and capitalized on that motivation and those contacts for accessing viable primary source information,” Mr. Leavy said. “In conducting her research, Emily went to great lengths to ascertain the proverbial ‘smoking gun’ that proved her thesis, then went about to move mountains to find that piece of information. Her processes and tenacity of research, as well as her ability to weave the narrative in with directed analysis, serve as a model for all Huntington students who wish to reach the highest bar in their historical study, research and presentation, particularly in the elite National History Day competition.”
“I am so honored to have won this award,” Ms. Shutman said. “I am so grateful for Mr. Leavy’s and Mrs. Desiderio’s mentorship throughout this process and to Huntington High School for sponsoring the trip to Tianjin, China that inspired me to write this paper. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing process as I not only was able to write about a topic I found extremely interesting and nuanced, but also because the project was inspired by the transformative trip to China that begot the writing process. While writing the paper, I really enjoyed making the connection between the history I researched and my personal experiences I had while visiting.”
A sensational student who has won awards across every academic discipline, Ms. Shutman is also a wonderful athlete. She plays No. 1 singles on the Blue Devil tennis team.
“Words cannot express just how proud I am of Emily, her accomplishments and her recognition of excellence from the Mid-Atlantic region of the Association for Asian Studies,” Mrs. Desiderio said. “I cannot think of a more deserving scholar and look forward to working with Emily again this year as the co-president of the National History Day club.”