May 4, 2019

Maryam Khalil, a senior at Lee’s Summit West High School, has been awarded the Princeton University Prize in Race Relations. This award recognizes high school students who have had a significant positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities through their volunteer efforts.

Maryam was honored locally on Tuesday, April 23rd in downtown Kansas City at the Third Annual Awards Ceremony of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations Greater Kansas City Committee.

Maryam founded LSW’s Harmony Council, which serves to bridge multi-cultural awareness within both the school and the community. Maryam is a translator with KC 4 Refugees, through which she also provides assistance to refugees relocating to the Kansas City area. Maryam is active in the Muslim Civic Initiative and the LSR7 Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, known as LINC (Leading, Innovating and Navigating our Community).

Prize recipients receive $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid weekend to a Symposium on Race at Princeton University where they will meet and engage with other Prize recipients from across the country.