UHS Senior Collin Hu named Student Advisor by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History 

This Summer, Unionville High School (UHS) Senior Collin Hu was chosen to join the competitive Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Student Advisory Council (SAC). 

Collin joins only 200 other members from across the globe who participate in exclusive programs and provide the Gilder Lehrman Institute student-centered feedback. He is the first student in Unionville history to receive this honor.

Hu’s commitment to service and historical scholarship started as a way to pass time during the pandemic.

He landed on GeoGuessr, a popular online game where players are presented with Google Streetview, given seconds to guess their location from context clues. “Locating photos and movies sparked my interest in cultural studies,” Collin reflected. 

Hu went on to co-found Plonk It, an online community of over 38,000 people, in 2021, and competed in the GeoGuessr World Cup in 2023 as the only under-18 qualifier. 

“After those experiences, I realized, in my community, opportunities are less available in the Humanities than they are in STEM fields,” he shared, adding that the Plonk It website and Discord channel have helped gamers become lifelong geography learners. “Teaching often overlooked skills like reading a compass or distinguishing East Asian languages on street signs fosters learning in unexpected places.” 

Since then, Collin has expanded Plonk It’s free workshops in person with the help of the Kennett Library and 35 other local organizations. Among his favorites to host are at foreign language schools and retirement homes, where residents revisit streets online to reminisce about the places that have been most important in their lives. “Maps are taught as memorization, but now we are changing that. They enable every generation to connect.” 

Hu’s initiative has been widely recognized. In 2024, Plonk It won a $1,000 education grant from GeoGuessr. 

Hu extended his gratitude to Unionville teachers for fostering his passion: “I deeply appreciate Mr. Stafford for the history classroom that inspired me to apply to the Institute, and Ms. Gamble, Mr. DelDotto, Ms. Iezzi, Ms. Holguín, Ms. Ahart, and Mr. Ahart, who all inspire me to teach, write, and serve people through history.”

“Collin stood out in AP U.S. History not only for what he knows, but also for his genuine enthusiasm for the past. In our Reacting to the Past simulations, his portrayals of Edmund Randolph’s constitutional pragmatism and W.E.B. Du Bois’s moral urgency captured those complex voices while energizing the entire class to engage more deeply with history,” noted Stafford. “The Gilder Lehrman Institute Student Advisory Council is gaining a scholar and community-builder. I look forward to seeing the impact of Collin’s work."

When asked what’s next for him, Hu said “People frequently ask me: why the name Plonk It? It references when you put a pin down on a map. It’s an onomatopoeia, the sound of the pin. For me, it’s a reminder to just get started. Place the pin down and figure it out later. Until we try, we don’t know if we truly want to pursue fields like cultural studies. Plonk It gives my community a low-stakes outlet to try.” 

This year, Collin looks forward to meeting professors, participating in workshops, and helping the Gilder Lehrman Institute curate collections and choose its programs. 

About the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District 

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District is a high-performing public school system serving approximately 4,000 students in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The District consists of four elementary schools, one middle school and Unionville High School, consistently ranked among the top public schools in Pennsylvania.