As the world reacted to Turkey shooting down a Russian warplane on Nov. 24, students from the Flathead Valley and Polson were tackling issues of an international importance such as biological weapons, migration, terrorism, peace building and food security at the  50th annual Model United Nations High School Conference.

The valley was well represented at the mock conference Nov. 23-24 at the University of Montana, with top honors going to Flathead High School.

Flathead, Glacier, Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Polson were among 21 high schools throughout Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to attend the two-day mock conference.

Flathead earned “outstanding” accolades, the highest honor, for its overall performance among the large delegations (17 or more students). Flathead is advised by Lauren Gustafson and Bruce Guthrie.

Among small delegations (16 or fewer delegates), Whitefish High School received the second highest “distinguished” designation. Whitefish is advised by Jim Rogers.

Columbia Falls High School, representing Hungary, was also a top performer earning an outstanding country award, meaning it performed in top five percent of participating countries.

More than 420 student delegates representing 124 countries met to debate and write resolutions addressing important international issues.

Students participated on one of five United Nations committees: the Security Council, General Assembly Plenary, General Assembly First Committee (disarmament and security), General Assembly Second Committee (economic and financial) and General Assembly Third Committee (social and humanitarian).

Other topics that committees worked on included deforestation, African security and cooperation, migration, food security and prices, water, human trafficking of children and women and North Korea.

High-performing students were also recognized as either outstanding, honorable or distinguished.

A SELECT few local participants achieved the outstanding designation. Flathead student Rhiannon Bennets, a Cambodian delegate, achieved an outstanding designation for having one of the top two position papers in General Assembly One.

Columbia Falls student Colin Norick, a Hungarian delegate, and Glacier student Teigan Avery, an Indian delegate, were among the outstanding delegates, or in the top 1 to 2 percent, in their respective committees — General Assembly One and General Assembly Two.

The top five senior performers at the conference were offered $1,000 UM scholarships. Glacier’s Josie Jolly ranked second and Flathead High School’s Kendra Wilke made the cut, placing fourth.

If a student turns down a scholarship, it is offered to the next student in line. Other local students ranked in the top 20 were Emily Getts of Columbia Falls in sixth, Kendra Wilke of Flathead in eighth and Ben Wright of Glacier in 15th.

Following is a list of top students along with their schools and countries represented.  

School Awards

Outstanding Large Delegation (top 10 percent of schools): Flathead High School

Distinguished Small Delegation (top 20 percent of schools): Whitefish High School

Country Delegation Awards

Outstanding (top 5 percent of countries): Columbia Falls, Hungary

Distinguished (top 10 percent of countries): Flathead, Costa Rica and Whitefish, Netherlands.

Top 20 Seniors

2. Josie Jolly, Glacier

4. Kendra Wilke, Flathead

6. Emily Getts, Columbia Falls

8. Kendra Wilke, Flathead

15. Ben Wright, Glacier

Position Paper Awards

Outstanding (best 1-2 papers per committee)

Distinguished (top 10 percent)

Honorable (top 20 percent)

Security Council

•  Honorable: Kendra Wilke, Flathead, New Zealand

General Assembly Plenary

•  Distinguished: Nicole Bouma, Flathead, Costa Rica and Sara Ward, Flathead, Laos
•  Honorable: Shae McGuinnes, Polson, Spain and Anna Nicosia, Columbia Falls, Hungary

General Assembly One

•  Outstanding: Rhiannon Bennets, Flathead, Cambodia
•  Distinguished: Lauren Vance, Flathead, Sudan
•  Honorable: Carolina Sierra, Flathead, Costa Rica  

General Assembly Two

•  Distinguished: Hunter Cripe, Whitefish, Turkey
•  Honorable: Jacob Hohman, Columbia Falls, Vietnam and Kimberly Liles, Glacier, Guatemala

General Assembly Three

•  Distinguished: Cody Bowen, Flathead, Cameroon; Mason DeVries, Flathead, New Zealand; Emily Getts, Columbia Falls, Hungary; Saige Perchy, Whitefish, Bangladesh; Kyersten Siebenaler, Glacier, India and Andi Utter, Flathead, Laos

Delegate Awards

Outstanding (top 1-2 percent of delegates per committee)

Distinguished (top 10 percent)

Honorable (top 20 percent)

General Assembly

 Honorable: Anna Nicosia, Columbia Falls, Hungary; Zach Kasselder, Whitefish, Netherlands and Sara Ward, Flathead, Laos

General Assembly One

 Outstanding: Colin Norick, Columbia Falls, Hungary

 Distinguished: Ben Wright, Glacier, Ivory Coast

 Honorable: Matthew Carroll, Flathead, Cameroon; Daniel Sierra, Flathead, Azerbijan and Lauren Vance, Flathead, Sudan

General Assembly Two

 Outstanding: Teigan Avery, Glacier, India

 Distinguished: Zachary Ade, Whitefish, Netherlands; Annabel Conger, Columbia Falls, Hungary; Isabelle Cuthbertson, Flathead, South Africa; Tad Harnett, Flathead, Azerbaijan and Ian Petrini, Glacier, Bahrain.

 Honorable: Sydney Archibald, Whitefish, Bangladesh and Kendra Vogel, Glacier, Central African Republic

General Assembly Three

•  Distinguished: Amy Braig, Glacier, Finland; Mason DeVries, Flathead, New Zealand; Emily Getts, Columbia Falls, Hungary and Sophia Skwarchuk, Flathead, Sudan
•  Honorable: Katrina Funk, Whitefish, Netherlands abd Andi Utter, Flathead, Laos

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.