Fifty-seven LWSD students put their skills in research, writing, public speaking, debate, diplomacy, and leadership to work against private and public schools across the region at the 2016 Washington Model United Nations (UN) Conference held last weekend on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Students from Juanita High School (JHS), Lake Washington High School (LWHS), Redmond High School (RHS) and Tesla STEM High School (Tesla STEM) participated.

Participants in Model UN conferences, known as delegates, are placed in committees based on actual UN groups. Delegates are assigned countries, along with a topic (or topics) that their committee will discuss. Delegates conduct research before conferences and formulate positions. They then debate with their fellow delegates in the committee, staying true to the actual position of the country they represent. Prizes are given for written position papers and for performance as a delegate.

The following students received awards:

Juanita High School:

Mady Scherr (Belgium) – General Assembly, Best Position Paper

Shawdi Mehrvarzan (United Kingdom) – International Court of Justice, Distinguished Delegate

Monisha Weerasundara (Belgium) – UN Environmental Programme, Outstanding Delegate

Lake Washington High School:

Sam Dorsey (Mali) – UN Environmental Programme, Distinguished Delegate

Redmond High School:

Marium Raza (China) – UN Economic and Social Council, Distinguished Delegate

Anushka Ladha (China) – UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Best Position Paper

Tesla STEM:

Nivida Thomas (Greece) – UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Position Paper

Michael Levenkov (Chile) – UN General Assembly, Distinguished Delegate

Neav Topaz (Maldives) – UN Economic and Social Council, Position Paper

Aashna Sheth (Greece) – UN Economic and Social Council, Distinguished Delegate