Eighth Grader Digitally Maps Today's Middle East Conflicts

"I had read a lot in newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe about what’s going on in the Middle East," she says, "and I wanted to know exactly how the U.S. and Russia were relating to each other in this area of the world. We hear a lot about the U.S. waging its longest-ever war in Afghanistan, but then we also hear about Russia trying to take over the Middle East. I wanted to know how much actual boots-on-the-ground truth there was to all this."

She admits, "If I couldn’t find what I needed, I’d check the US news agencies like CNN and Fox, but those were really my last resort, because I wanted to get closer to the source."

Armed with a trove of the latest data on some of the gravest conflicts in the world, Kennedy then moved on to phase two of her project. "From the beginning, I had planned to turn my research into a map. Whenever I had read a news article with a map, I had found it really helped my understanding." 

Creating a complex map of the Middle East by hand would have been far too much work for a single trimester, so Kennedy turned to Jill Codding of Shore's Tech Team, who recommended Google's customizable MyMaps platform. "Once I put all the data in Google's map format," Kennedy recounts, "I could see that the US has a much larger presence in the Middle East than Russia. Just going by the number of data points I put down, representing things like U.S. airstrikes, Russian positions, and U.S. embassies, there was no question about who was the largest presence."

Some of what Kennedy was able to visualize on her map turns out to be relevant for understanding the latest breaking news from the region, including the Trump administration's decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria, and its proposed ban on travelers from several Middle Eastern countries. "I noticed that the banned countries, like Yemen, tend to be the most colorful on the map, meaning that they have more opposing forces operating within their borders. I had color-coded the conflicting groups in each country."

As for Syria, Kennedy's detailed color-coding clearly reveals the complex situation on the ground there, with Russian and U.S. airstrikes and influence contrasted against the various areas controlled by Syrian and opposition or terrorist organizations. The map also shows the astonishing spread of refugees from the Syrian conflicts into many neighboring countries.

"Even though I knew going in that my map would become dated almost immediately, I’ve still learned a lot. Though the day-to-day realities may change constantly, I still understand the bigger picture. Even though the map may change, the forces at work will remain basically the same," Kennedy says.

Her advisor on the project, history teacher Pat Coyle, has high regard for Kennedy's work. "This was truly an independent study," he attests. "I was there mostly for moral support and bouncing ideas back and forth. But Sarah really did all the driving. She was motivated to learn and understand, and she really maintained her focus throughout the project, from doing the research to filling in the map to giving her final presentation to the Upper School."

Bound for Phillips Exeter Academy in the fall, Kennedy is clearly on track to earn that spot at the Defense Department. She couldn't have chosen a more important time to be pursuing her passion for politics. "2016 was definitely an interesting year for politics," she says in an understatement. "I really wanted to know how the Middle East played into what was happening with the presidential campaign last year, because it certainly seems like that is the region that’s going to be the most instrumental in shaping the way that we all live in 20 years, regardless of who’s president."