COEUR d’ALENE — Students from two local high schools excelled at a Model United Nations conference at Boise State University.

Model United Nations is a simulation of the U.N. General Assembly and its other bodies, where students perform an ambassador role while debating topics related to the countries they’re assigned to represent.

A team of students from Coeur d’Alene and Lake City high schools earned third place in the competition last week, competing against teams from 15 other schools throughout Idaho.

“It’s opened my eyes to the world a little more,” said Riley Yake, a senior at CHS and president of her school’s Model U.N. team. “I was able to learn about the challenges countries around the world are facing.”

The local team represented the country of Jordan.

Close to 700,000 Syrian refugees live in Jordan, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency, many of whom are vulnerable to human trafficking. Yake said her team worked with student delegates representing other countries to create policies to combat human trafficking.

The team also developed policies to invest in Jordan’s agricultural development and early childhood education.

Luke Sharon, a junior at LCHS, received an honorable mention — the equivalent of a second-place award — for his speeches and diplomacy in the General Assembly. He focused on the issues of finance and child labor, especially its impact on Jordan’s economy.

“It showed us how the U.N. is supposed to work and how diplomacy is supposed to create change,” Sharon said.

Yake said participating in Model U.N. has helped her consider what she wants to study in college.

“I’m leaning more toward political science,” she said.

The team’s adviser, Don Walters, said he’s proud of how the students performed.

“There’s a lot of great kids out there excelling academically and learning how to be leaders,” he said.

Yake said the team plans to fundraise in order to attend another Model U.N. conference before the end of the school year. For more information, email [email protected].