2021 World Citizen Essay Contest Awards Ceremony
May 25th, 2021 6:00PM -7:30PM
This is a virtual event. The zoom link for the ceremony will be sent the day before the event.
The World Affairs Council's Global Classroom is thrilled to host the 2021 World Citizen Essay Contest Awards Ceremony to honor this year's nine essay contest winners whose insight and inspiration illustrated just how important it is to ensure that youth have a seat at the table when working to tackle some of the world's most pressing issues. Recognizing the impact of the global pandemic on education, locally and globally, Global Classroom extends our sincere gratitude to all of the educators who shared this opportunity with their students; the parents who allowed and encouraged their children to participate in this year's contest; and all of the youth who shared their voices with us on issues, global and local, important to them. We know this past year and a half has not been easy, but we truly appreciate you all taking the time to let your voices be heard and for uplifting our youth!
This is a FREE event open to the community. The evening will begin with a conversation on "Engaging Students in Global Education During the Pandemic," with keynote speaker, Akash Patel, followed by the announcement of the 2021 World Citizen Essay Contest winners, honorable mentions, and additional awardees. Please join us as we honor and uplift our youth!
Click the blue buttons below to check out our 2021 World Citizen Essay Contest Winners and additional awardees!
Ruya Kawakyu-Kern, 4th Grade, McDonald International School | “Help Honey Bees”
Kol Shorr, 5th Grade, Bryant Elementary School | “Responsible Consumption and Sustainable Management of Salmon Populations”
Clara Barnes, 5th Grade, Bryant Elementary School | “Wildfires”
Maret Edlund, 5th Grade, Bryant Elementary School | “Are You Doing Enough?”
MIDDLE
Novyanna Bajarcharya, 6th Grade, Timberline Middle School | “Global Warming”
Oscar Li, 6th Grade, Home School | “Marine Conservation and Why It Is Important”
Destin Krout, 7th Grade, Chinook Middle School | “Online School”
HIGHSCHOOL
Aidan Simpson, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “HIV/AIDS in Iran”
Charlotte Burns, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “Poaching”
Mitch Footer, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “Geotagging: A New Practice that Already Feels Dated”
Reginald Limjan, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “Where’s My Water?
Jamie Stout, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “The United States’ Failures As A Global Power in Ethical Production and Consumption”
Abigail Varghese, 12th Grade, Glacier Peak High School | “The Lifelong Effects of Inequitable Education”
Katherine Kang, 10th Grade, University Preparatory Academy | “Absence is Silence”
Raphael Monserate, 10th Grade, Raisbeck Aviation High School | “Feeding the World”
Global Competence Portfolio Certificate Awardee: Santoshi Pisupati is in Lake Washington School District’s Class of 2023 and goes to the International Community School in Kirkland. She started working on her Global Competence Portfolio Certificate Website in June 2020, and is honored to be receiving her certificate this May. She’s had the privilege of working with educators from the World Affairs Council to create resources for other students looking to earn their Global Competence Portfolio Certificates, and hopes to see more high school students take this challenge on.The World Affairs Council - Seattle Recognizes,
as the Fall 2020 Educators of the Month. Learn more about these wonderful educators, here.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
In his first year of teaching, he was recognized by the State Department of Education and the Multicultural Education Institute as the January 2015 Educator of the Month and the 2015 Multicultural Teacher of the Year for promoting global citizenship in his classroom and achieving a successful academic turnaround. In December 2017, Patel was selected from over 30,000 nominations as one of the top 50 teachers around the world and shortlisted as a finalist for the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million prize that is awarded annually to one teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession: https://bit.ly/2JKeXF5 In June 2020, Patel was elected to the National Council of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) to serve the 2020-2022 term. At UNA-USA, Patel chairs the Global Engagement Summit committee, the largest gathering of grassroots changemakers and global activists in the General Assembly Hall at the UN and the Educators Affinity group, responsible for helping educators from across USA champion the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their classrooms.
Akash has connected all of his classrooms with people and professionals worldwide using virtual platforms such as Facebook video calling, Skype and Google Hangout. At first, he started inviting his friends from social media platforms. Eventually, he mobilized over 1,000 volunteers from over 150 countries to join his Global Connect database at the Happy World Foundation (www.happyworldfoundation.us), a Texas based global education nonprofit he founded after the passing of his twin brother Anand Happy Patel.
Patel frequently speaks at regional, national and international conferences about his classroom experience. He has also trained over 40,000 teachers to use the Global Connect database and other multicultural programs. Today, thousands of American children travel to countries worldwide through Happy World Foundation’s global education programs.
MODERATOR
Noah Zeichner is a National Board-certified social studies and Spanish teacher at Ingraham High School in Seattle. Noah co-leads a team in Seattle Public Schools that provides curricular and programmatic support to the district’s ten international schools. For the past several years, he has coordinated the youth-led Washington Global Issues Network (WAGIN) Conference. Noah was honored with the 2013-14 World Affairs Council World Educator Award and was among 50 finalists chosen for the 2015 Global Teacher Prize. In 2012, Noah traveled to Brazil as part of the Teachers for Global Classrooms program and in 2018, he visited South Africa as part of the NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellowship program.
Thank you again to all of our youth who participated in the 2021 World Citizen Essay Contest and to the educators and parents that encouraged them to share their voices! To read the winning essay please click, here.
Thank You to our Sponsors!
