By Judith Dorato O’Gara

How many of you have heard of Abraham Flexner or his influence on medical education in the United States? Well, Robert Adams Middle School students Lucas Zhang and Sam Giesecke, who teamed up as a National History Day (NHD) team, could tell you all about it. Competing in this academic competition at the Junior level, they created a website about how Flexner’s report influenced the way doctors are taught and certified. Their efforts were recognized at a regional competition in March and a states competition in Winchester on April 11th, and they have been invited to National History Day in DC (https://dchistory.org/nhd) in Washington, D.C. from June 14th-18th.

Holliston High School student Josh Zhang, who qualified for NHD nationals as a sixth grader in Arlington before moving to Holliston when he was in 8th grade, started the club at Holliston High School last year. He served as a student advisor to his younger brother, Lucas, and Sam.

“The rules are the same for middle school and high school,” explains Zhang, but just separated by age. “For this competition, you can either create a documentary, a website, an on-stage performance, a research paper, or a poster exhibit,” he explains. “This year’s theme was ‘Revolution, Reaction, Reform’ in history. You’d pick a topic that suits the theme, using primary sources, secondary sources, analyzing and creating a project build on your historical thesis. And so, the middle school team did a project on the Flexner Report, a medical report that reformed medical education in the United States.”

Bella Ramsey, the Holliston High School teacher Josh approached to be the NHD advisor last year, lauds Lucas’ and Sam’s effort. She served as advisor to the middle school boys, where no established club currently exists at the middle school level in town.

“Looking at the work they had done, I’m just so impressed with the independence that they showed throughout this project. I don’t know many middle schoolers who would feel comfortable interviewing a professor from Harvard Medical School … and they spoke to multiple experts in their fields, even crafting interview questions.” Even the topic, she says, was arguably a difficult one. 

“Our group wanted to look at how medicine really changed from a very chaotic world to a more, like, clean and safe one,” says Lucas Zhang, 11 years old, who approached Sam to join his team. He came across reference to the Flexner report as he was reading an article about medicine. “It was the main document that reshaped the whole world of medicine,” he says.

Sam Giesecke, 12 years old, says, “I’ve always been interested in medicine, and I also wanted to test my ability and see what I could do. I also thought it was a pretty good idea to do this for the future.”

Both boys say they put several hours of work into the project per week, on top of other extracurricular activities. They are excited, if a little nervous, at the prospect of presenting to judges in DC.

“I think it’s insane we actually made it to nationals and we’re going to go to Washington, DC to compete. Being able to do that is just really cool,” says Sam.

“It’s such an amazing program,” says Ramsey, noting that there are only three teams total in Holliston right now, with two at the high school. She hopes more students will participate. “It offers so many great skills for students,” she says, “They really have to work hard even to get recognized at the regional level. To get recognized at the state level, they have really accomplished something.”

The middle schoolers could use help with the costs of heading to nationals. If you are interested in helping support them, reach out to Mrs. Ramsey ([email protected]).

In the meantime, check out their project at https://site.nhd.org/40176967/home.