Priya Agarwal-Harding is 16 years old and in her junior year at Glenelg Country High School. Priya is passionately interested in international development especially related to cross-cultural communication.  Priya is currently (2007) working as an intern at the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health (JHPIEGO) and has also worked as an intern (2006) with the International Youth Foundation of Baltimore. She continues to work with PRAYAS, a non-governmental organization supporting neglected, trafficked and abused children in India and has raised funds for this cause. Priya has lived in various countries: Ghana, India, and the UK accompanying her parents in their UN careers. Priya is a member of the National Honor Society and founder and president of the Future Business Leaders in America (FBLA) in her school. She has a passion for writing, literature and history. Priya is a recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award-2005. Her main hobbies include classical Indian dance, Bharat Natyam, modern dance, and traveling.

“A Noble Path to Noble Peace”

Essay Abstract: Moses, Jesus and Muhammad as leaders of peace, each demonstrated: (i) personal commitment to truth; (ii) perseverance in the face of adversity and suffering; (iii) selflessness and humility; (iv) teaching a spirituality of compassion for others; and (v) the ability to forge a coherent community under the Abrahamic conception of God.  Adaptation to new contexts such as recent changes recognized by Nobel Peace Prize criteria, leaders of Abrahamic religions must now demonstrate that peaceful solutions to problems like the Israel-Palestine conflict lie not in parochial interests, but in respecting our common humanity in an increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent world.

On the value of the Children of Abraham project: This project was important to me because it helped me to learn more about leaders of the Abrahamic religions, and apply their teachings to the problems of today. If only we could all focus on their commonality, and respect our common humanity in an increasingly globalized, interconnected and interdependent world, rather than focusing on our differences, the world would be a better, more peaceful place.

< Back to the Contest Page