Other Awards of Note

At the NHD awards recognition announcements held online on Saturday, June 20, this year’s Coskey Prize for high school students was awarded to Jesse Henderson of Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tennessee. The project was a documentary titled “Unwelcomed Soldiers Invading a Fraternity: Breaking Gender Barriers in the U.S. Military.” The project was about Capt. Rosemary Mariner, one of the first six women to earn their wings as naval aviators. It told how she helped other women be part of naval aviation and what she did in retirement after moving to Tennessee.

The Coskey Prize for middle school students went to Kathryn Lucente of Red Maple Academy in Milford, Connecticut, for an exhibit, “Breaking the Wrong Barriers.” It examined the controversy surrounding the Navy’s first female combat pilot to fly from an aircraft carrier, Lt. Kara Hultgreen. Lieutenant Hultgreen was tragically killed in a crash while attempting to land on the carrier Abraham Lincoln.

Accompanying the Coskey Prizes are NHF “Teacher of Distinction” awards. Seven middle and high school teachers from five states were recognized. It was the third consecutive year for NHF’s Teacher of Distinction awards, inaugurated in 2018. The awards go to teachers in middle or high schools whose students (i) win NHF’s annual Coskey Prizes for Naval History or (ii) are ranked first, second, or third nationally in their categories for projects with a naval or maritime theme. The awards consist of $200 honorariums, NHF certificates of achievement, one-year NHF memberships, and access to NHF Navy-related research assistance. Recognized for their support of the two winning projects were Bradley Central teacher Julie Mitchell and Red Maple Academy teacher Laura Lucente. Ms. Lucente is also the mother of Kathryn. The following are the other five Teacher of Distinction winners: • Melissa Spruill, a teacher at Cane

Creek Middle School, Fletcher, North

Carolina, for mentoring an exhibit,

“Brothers Like These and the Barriers

They Faced after Vietnam,” which came in third place in the middle school exhibit category. The project described posttraumatic distress syndrome suffered by Marines and prisoners of war, including Navy aviators, during the Vietnam War. The project was done by students Grace

Armitstead, Brady Clausen, Trapper

Alonso, and Sara Barlowe. • David Ishii and Colleen Spring, teachers at Laie Elementary School at

Laie, Hawaii. Their students’ project was a performance, “Breaking Barriers:

How Swimwear Paved the Way to Women’s Rights.” The project—a third-place winner—told how allowing women to swim in relaxed and appropriate attire contributed to their interest in water sports, including ocean surfing, and hence to consider careers in the maritime area. The performance was the work of students Annika Houghton, Auden Ho, and Eden Smith. Irene Soohoo, a teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School in Vancouver, Washington. She mentored a performance project by student Coltan McCall entitled “Breaking Barriers to Restore 1855 Treaty Fishing Rights.” The project highlighted the importance of a maritime environment to native Americans of the Pacific northwest coast. The project came in second place in its category. Janyce Omura, a teacher at Maui High School, Kahalui, Hawaii. The project was a website and came in second place in that category. “The Military Intelligence Service: Japanese Americans Breaking Barriers to Help End the War” depicted the important role of Japanese Americans serving in the Pacific in World War II and the dilemmas they faced. Students John Andei Balanay, Jaelen Matsuda-Williams, and Sarah Sakakihara produced the project.

In the three years since the award was initiated, NHF has recognized 43 teachers from 27 states and one territory, Guam.

Akers, Stillwell Awarded Pogue Award

Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region (OHMAR) recognized Dr. Regina T. Akers of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) and Cdr. Paul Stillwell, long associated with the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI), with the Forrest C. Pogue Award to recognize lifetime accomplishments in the field of oral history.

The award, named for a Marine Corps historian who utilized oral history in combat during World War II, was annual conferences of OHMAR and the Society for

to have been presented on March 13, 2020, at the joint History in the Federal Government in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the conference.

At present, Dr. Akers is a senior historian and the oral history team lead in the Histories Branch at the NHHC. She enjoys a national reputation as a subject matter expert on diversity and personnel issues in the United States military, with an emphasis on women and African AmeriContinued on page 23