West Hartford rising Conard High School junior, Claire Flynn received the Captain Ken Coskey Naval History Prize at the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland. 

By Bridget Bronsdon 

West Hartford’s very own Claire Flynn has made her mark among the half-million students participating in the National History Day competitions across the globe. The mighty feat championed by the rising junior at Conard High School not only placed for her documentary but also earned the Captain Ken Coskey Naval History Prize sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute. 

Accomplishing these titles at the National History Day competition is no small feat for any teenage historian but Flynn stormed complex topics and global competition with ease. Her topic? “Operation Sunshine: How the Nautilus’s Crossing of the Polar Frontier Allowed America to Emerge from Sputnik’s Shadow.”

When dissecting the framework for her research, Flynn spearheaded research on the USS Nautilus “which was an atomic-powered submarine that crossed the Polar Frontier under the North Pole on a voyage from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic in 1958,” she explained. 

This year’s National History Day theme, Frontiers in History, allowed the young historian to examine local and national perspectives on this topic. From a national standpoint, one of the first steps Flynn took when spearheading her project was researching the national archives. Locally, Flynn was able to utilize Connecticut History Day resources. 

However, the Submarine Force Museum and Library in Groton, CT proved to be the most useful resource in all of Flynn’s research. There, Flynn was able to go aboard the Nautilus and even had access to museum archives along with pictures and audio information. 

To arrive at such an innovative topic that requires a year of dedicated research and construction may appear to be an enormous undertaking, but Flynn is no stranger to the rigor and diligence this competition requires. 

The National History Day veteran made her debut in sixth grade and two years later she received the first-place documentary prize. As part of that prize, Flynn was able to meet award-winning documentary film producer Ken Burns. The now-rising high school junior has had years of experience under her belt but one of her reasons for delving into this year’s topic had a more personal connection. 

Flynn remarked that when choosing a topic, this idea rang out to her because of her grandfather who was an officer in the U.S. Navy. In addition, an uncle of Flynn’s works at Electric Boat in Groton, where the Nautilus was manufactured. 

From a more historically-charged lens, Flynn noted that her topic was an incredibly important historical frontier and milestone. “It not only was a technological victory after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, but it also helped gather really important climate and ocean data that’s still useful today to our understanding of the polar ice caps,” Flynn described. 

Following a school-year-long process of research, creation, and winning regional and state competitions, Flynn joined 46 Connecticut students and nearly 3,000 students worldwide to compete at the national level at the University of Maryland. 

This was the first time the experienced historian was able to attend the national competition in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic but couldn’t speak higher of the experience. “It was an amazing  experience because I got to meet other young historians and see projects from different countries and states, all around it was really cool.”

From there, the Connecticut team was able to meet the state’s U.S. Senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, and Flynn even took up conversation with Congressman Joe Courtney regarding submarine history. 

The finale of week-long competitions was well worth it for Flynn as she returned home decorated in accolades – one of which, the Captain Ken Coskey Naval History Prize, is “given to the best entry on naval history in any category” and is “named for the late Captain Ken Coskey, a Vietnam War combat aviator and Prisoner of War, and former executive director of the Naval Historical Foundation,” as stated by the National History Day organization. 

As the club advisor of a Naval History Award winner, Conard teacher Jessica Blitzer received the Naval Maritime Historical Society “Teacher of Distinction” award.

Undoubtedly, the young historian – and president of Conard’s National History Day club – is well versed in the National History Day competition. This year she hopes to grow the club at Conard and lead other students to victory. Following two semesters worth of research, preparation, and creation it is clear that Claire Flynn is already a champion of history and no stranger to hard work in the vast landscape of history.

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