Rationale for the Contest  

The annual United Nations Contest sponsored by the West Triangle Chapter of the United Nations Association is designed primarily to encourage local high school students to create original projects which deal with an issue or problems relevant to the mission of the United Nations. The works may come from any discipline and may take a variety of forms: essays, videos, posters, musical selections or compositions, multi-media works, etc. Projects created by teams of students are encouraged.

2013 Contest Winners

• First Place: Jenny Liu, Freshman, East Chapel Hill High School, "UN Role on Environment." The Judging Committee was extremely impressed with her mastery of the science of climate change and of the complexities of the Kyoto Protocol and Doha Amendment. The Committee appreciated her very well thought out oral presentation and was especially impressed with her dance performance which echoed the theme of her project.
   

• Second Place: Corey Risinger, East Chapel Hill High School, "Reform of the Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Committee was extremely impressed with her mastery of the history of D.R. Congo and of the complexities of its current situation. The committee appreciated her polished presentation and were impressed as well with her metaphoric sculpture dramatizing the dilemmas facing reform efforts.
   

• Third Place: Amber Johnson and Kristen Lee, Carrboro High School, "Carbon Emissions and the United Nations". The Committee was impressed with their mastery of the science of carbon emissions and the intricacies of the Kyoto Protocol. The Committee also appreciated their well thought out presentation and was impressed with the "city" they built to show the impacts of carbon emissions and U.N. solutions to the problems of global warming.
   

• Honorable Mention: Phuong Le and Tian Chang Zhang, East Chapel Hill High School, "The UN and Its Role in Combating Malaria in Africa". The Committee was impressed with their mastery of the biology of malaria and of the efforts to eradicate it. The Committee was also impressed with the Prezi presentation and their map of Africa. The later was effective in conveying what is happening in the various countries in that continent.

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  2012 Winners of U.N. Contest

• First Place: Emily Powell and Amber Johnson, Carrboro High School, U.N. Involvement in Haiti (slow loading file). The Committee was extremely impressed with their mastery of the complex history of Haiti and how that has constrained solutions to its various problems. The Committee also appreciated their well thought out PowerPoint presentation on that history and were impressed with their realistic and carefully considered proposals for U.N.-based solutions. 
   

• Second Place: Chi Le, East Chapel Hill High School, The United Nations and Its Role in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS. The Committee was quite impressed with her analysis of how the U.N. currently deals with the issue of HIV/AIDS, with her appreciation of the many obstacles in the way of preventing and treating HIV/AIDS, and with her proposals for improving the U.N.’s various efforts. We also liked the water color painting she created to dramatize efforts to deal with HIV/AIDS.
   

• Third Place: Hannah Schwarz and Kristen Lee, Carrboro High School, The Power of Educating a Girl. The Committee was impressed by what they learned about the problem and the way they organized their approach to it in terms of five obstacles to girls’ education. The Committee also liked their imaginative display which dramatized those obstacles
   

• Honorable Mention: Yuyi Li and Christian Haig, East Chapel Hill High School, The United Nations Potential Role in the Somali Civil War. The Committee appreciated what they learned about the topic, their passionate interest in the topic, and their detailed PowerPoint presentation. They succeeded in enlightening Committee members about piracy which started as a border-protecting strategy in the context of waste dumping and over-fishing by other nations.
   

• Honorable Mention: Akib Khan, East Chapel Hill High School, The United Nation’s Education Program. The Committee was impressed with the background he acquired about the problem of education and with the enormous variety of examples he cited. His PowerPoint slides provided effective outlines for his oral presentation.
   

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2011 U.N. Contest Winners
For the sake of consistency and load time, all project were converted to PDF files. The latest Adobe Reader may be downloaded HERE

David McDonogh, Junior, East Chapel Hill High School. $750 1st place award for “Timor East and West.” The judging committee was very impressed with his mastery of the complex history of the conflicts in East Timor. His well thought out PowerPoint presentation on that history included realistic and carefully considered proposals for U.N.-based solutions. David won last year’s second place award.

Kathy Dai, Freshman, East Chapel Hill High School. $500 2nd place award for “U.N. Leadership Roles in Humanitarian Aid.” The judging committee was impressed with her analysis of how important the coordination of aid is. Her PowerPoint presentation on that issue included her proposal for U.N.-based solutions.

Joe Baker, Parker Edwards, and Adam Glasser, Seniors, Carrboro High School. $250 3rd place award for “U.N. Aid for Indonesia.” The members of the judging committee were impressed by the team’s creativity in writing a multi-verse song about the issue and with their concern for improving the aid process in general.  

Maryam Ali, Freshman, East Chapel Hill High School. Honorable Mention for “Violence Against Women.” The Contest judges were impressed with the background Ms. Ali acquired about the various causes of the problem, with her detailed and colorful presentation, and with the essay on the topic.

Yuyi Li, Sophomore, East Chapel Hill High School. Honorable Mention for “Blood Diamonds.” Judges were impressed with the background she acquired about various aspects of the topic and with her delightful PowerPoint presentation.

Rachel Hainline, Senior, East Chapel Hill High School. Honorable Mention for “Poverty Reduction.” Ms. Hainline demonstrated considerable knowledge about the topic and her PowerPoint presentation included an interesting proposal for using U.N. supervised clinics to reduce poverty. Ms. Hainline and various colleagues won awards in our 2009 and 2010 Contests.

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2010 Award Winners 

This year there were ten Contest entries from fourteen students – eight individual entries and two entries by three person teams. 

Due to differences in computer and browser capabilities, the top three presentations may be viewed as either PowerPoint Slide Shows or as PDF files.

First place: "Israel/Palestine," by Bradli Crump, Carrboro High School. Her PowerPoint presentation demonstrated the student's mastery of the complex history of the conflict. She used a tri-fold poster board that summarized her two-state solution which included imaginative proposals for changing the UN to make it more effectively involved in resolving the conflict. 
To see her PowerPoint Slide Show, click here.
To view as a PDF, click here.

Second Place: "Cyprus: (un)Divided" by David McDonogh, East Chapel Hill High School. Mr. McDonogh’s PowerPoint presentation showed his extensive knowledge of the conflicts in Cyprus and incorporated well designed proposals for UN-based solutions.
To see his PowerPoint Slide Show, click here.
To view as a PDF, click here.

Third place (tie): "A UN Approach to Eliminating Child Labor," by Claire Johnson, Cedar Ridge High School, Hillsborough. Ms. Johnson used a PowerPoint with many visuals and included detailed proposals for UN-based solutions.
To see her presentation as a PowerPoint Slide Show, click here.
To view as a PDF, click here.

Third place (tie): "Yemen: A Failing State," by Reade Paterno, Sam Stargel, and Jordan Thomas, Carrboro High School. The team's PowerPoint proposed getting the UN more effectively involved in Yemen than it has been in the past. The team also produced a video on how extreme poverty exacerbates the problems in Yemen.

Honorable Mention: Sofia Haley, Cedar Ridge High School, Hillsborough. Her topic was the effects of rainforest depletion. She read her essay on it and commented on the painting she created to dramatize the problem.  To see her essay and a photo of her painting as a PDF file, click here.

Honorable Mention: Katelyn Whittingham, Cedar Ridge High School, Hillsborough. Ms Whittingham’s project was on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its children hurt by war. She read her essay on the topic as well as a short story she wrote illustrating the plight of a single child raped in the Congo.

Honorable Mention: Rachel Hainline, Marsha Sugana, and Young-Eun Hyun, East Chapel Hill High School. Environmental refugees was the topic chosen by the team. Their PowerPoint included visuals to illustrate such things as global climate change. 

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