COUNTYWIDE : 2 Student Essayists to Be Honored by U.N.

Two Orange County high school students have won national honors in a United Nations-sponsored essay contest on the subject of the global environment and will travel to New York to receive awards.

Lily Chinn of Huntington Beach High School and Jay Kim of Laguna Hills High School finished second and third, respectively, out of 1,000 entries submitted from high school students throughout the United States.

“I think this shows that Orange County has students who are well informed about the United Nations and its environmental role,” said Bill Caldwell of the United Nations Assn., a nonprofit support group.

Chinn, a senior, will receive $750 for her second-place finish. Kim will win $500 for placing third, Caldwell said.

Both teen-agers will be flown to New York on May 22 to attend a United Nations dinner where they will receive awards. Each will be accompanied by a teacher from his or her school.

At the event, they will meet United Nations dignitaries and students from the Soviet Union who won awards in a similar contest in that country.

Two of the Soviet students will be flown to California, where they will stay at the homes of Chinn and Kim.

Kim was a member of the Laguna Hills High School academic decathlon team that last month took second place in a national competition.

Chinn has received recognition for her participation in several Model United Nations assemblies, a student program sponsored by the United National Assn.