Local student receives global award from WSU

Juneau-Douglas High School graduate Kari Whitney was awarded first place in the 2016 Global Case Competition by the Washington State University Office of International Programs along with her team.

Whitney’s team won for their analysis of the issue of debtors’ prisons, and will present “Dignity before detention” to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, Switzerland, in November. Prior to the trip, she will serve an internship in Juneau and Seattle with Sealaska.

Twenty-two years after starting college, and 20 years after her mother started asking when she would finish, Whitney enrolled at WSU in 2015. A 2016 summa cum laude graduate (in humanities and American Indian studies) and student senator, she earned a presidents’ award for leadership and service, and a community involvement award for her work with food banks. She has over 15 years’ experience helping attorneys and independent schools manage their relationships with constituents.

She currently lives in Tacoma.

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