Pamela Kim ‘24, Kamdi Oguchi ‘24, and Jasmine Wang ‘24 created one of the top two presentations in the Montgomery County-level group exhibit category, which requires participants to design a display about their National History Day subject. In addition to the display, all participants wrote a 500-word process paper and an extensive annotated bibliography.

 

In 1856, Foote described the climate implications of greenhouse gas emissions with clear scientific evidence, making her one of the first scientists to do so. Kim, Oguchi, and Wang argue that Foote and her findings fell into obscurity due to “her gender, European elitism in academia against then-underdeveloped American institutions, and her challenge against societal notions regarding the environment.”

 

“Her work was published three years before ‘father of climate change,’ John Tyndall, published his findings,” Wang said. “She opened the door to climate science but she didn’t get that title.”

 

Primary sources about Foote are limited, so Kim, Oguchi, and Wang relied on scientific journals as well as secondary scholarly resources to learn about her work and how it failed to be recognized. They said that their English coursework and the Oral History Project, the signature eleventh-grade research assignment, gave them a leg up in the competition.

 

“A lot of what we are learning now in English helped us organize our thoughts, formulate our thesis, and examine why we are doing this,” Oguchi said.

 

“The research experience that we have from the Oral History Project advanced our level of research for National History Day,” Kim added, noting how they consulted sources from JSTOR and connected with their history teachers to enrich the project.

 

All three students are involved in diverse areas of school life, from the Students of Color Association and musical theater to the International Students Club and Model UN. It was a no-brainer to make time for the National History Day competition, they said; Kim, Oguchi, and Wang are all exploring college studies and careers in science and consider Foote a trailblazer for young women like themselves.

 

“As young scientists who are looking to our future, we wanted to see how we could impact society by raising awareness of people like us who are minorities in many different ways, and by allowing people to understand there are so many people like Foote who are being marginalized today,” Kim said.

 

The team will present their exhibit on May 6 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.