Peace Essay Winner Visits Washington

Few things are more hectic for a high school senior than the last week of school, but things were even busier for Monami Chakabarti than for her fellow grads.

After her graduation from Newbury Park High School last week, Chakabarti had to forgo the parties with her friends to finish packing for a flight to Washington, D.C.

As the California winner of the 12th annual National Peace Essay Contest, sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace, Chakabarti will join winners from other states as they tour the nation’s capital and learn more about peace-oriented issues.

During the five-day trip, participants will speak with Congress members and foreign embassy officials and will simulate negotiations at the Organization of African Unity.

The goal of the simulation will be to resolve the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which could lead to a crisis involving all of East Africa.

“I’m excited to go. It’s a packed program,” said Chakabarti, 18.

Her winning essay, “Preventing Conflict and Promoting Peace,” describes two major cases: One in which international conflict was prevented and the other in which peace efforts failed.

Chakabarti used the example of Macedonia in the early 1990s, in relationship to the war in Bosnia, as an international conflict that was prevented. She researched and wrote of the failed peace effort in Afghanistan that began with the Soviet invasion in 1979 and has evolved today into the repressive Taliban government.

“I was really excited and shocked. I didn’t think I could win. I didn’t think it was quite ready,” Chakabarti said.

The essay was due in January--about the same time as a lot of term papers, homework and scholarship essays--so Chakabarti had to find extra time to work on the essay. Still, it took her only five days to write.

“My English teacher in my junior year told me about [the contest], since she knew I was active with Amnesty International, and she really helped me with it,” she said.

“We talked about it in the beginning, the types of topics to do,” said teacher Christine Thompson. “Most of my role was reading [the report] and looking for minor kinds of things.”

Thompson said she is optimistic her former student can win at the national level.