Emma Conde

“If all goes according to plan, I should be president by 2050.”

Emma Conde is a thoughtful, smart, and loving girl with very big goals. Even at the age of five when watching the Republican Party presidential primaries with her dad, Conde knew she wanted to dream big.  Conde has participated in debate since her sophomore year of high school, and as a senior is now one of the captains for the debate team. This year she decided to apply for the Sterling scholar in forensics speech and theatre, and she was the first person from debate to win! Conde has already accomplished so much and hopes to accomplish even more.

Many might find it surprising that Conde is so great at debate. Anyone who knows or who has ever talked to Emma knows how kind of a girl she is. With always a smile on her face and a positive attitude towards everything, it is a shock of how persuasive and opinionated she can be. With evidence to back her up of course.

“Emma is very thoughtful, kind to everyone, and inclusive.” Said Conde’s sister Grace Conde, “She is also very analytical. When we argue she is always asking me for evidence, we like to call it her debate mode.”

With always having a love for politics, Conde decided to use debate as her outlet. She loves debating anything and everything! Conde explained that she enjoys national topics because she knows more about them, but also has learned love international topics because of what she has experienced.

Conde has attended the Model United Nations conference at the University of Utah twice, and is planning to attend again this year. Model U.N is an educational simulation and academic activity where students are able to learn about the United Nations and other international topics.

“My sophomore year I actually was a keynote speaker at it (the conference). It was super fun, and scary, but Model U.N is a great way to practice speaking skills and is really good way to stretch my knowledge.” said Conde, “Debate club will normally go to Model U.N because there are not a lot of debate tournaments in the spring, and it is a fun way to keep up.”

Conde explained that she was able to use this knowledge on her humanitarian trips with HEFY. Humanitarian Experience for Youth (HEFY) is an organization led by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Conde has had the opportunity to go twice, once to Brazil and once to Guana.

“It was cool because I had learned about issues in model UN and then being able to see it in real life was super eye-opening.” Conde said, “One of the biggest experiences I had was in Guana when I went to the Slave Castles, and I came home super interested in racial tensions. This year I’ve read a lot of books about slavery and the impacts on socioeconomics’ status today and minority achievement gap. I feel like after that, I have invested a lot of time to try to learn about American history and specifically black History and I think it is super interesting”

HEFY has made a huge impact on Conde especially for her in her high school years. College has yet to be another amazing chapter of her life.

Conde is wanting to either attend the University of Utah or Brigham Young University next year. She is hoping to major in political science, have a piano minor, and possibly debate in college. Law school at Harvard or Columbia after her prior education is another aspiration for Conde, which with her determined attitude, she will very likely be able to achieve.

When explaining her plans after college, Conde pinpointed humanitarian efforts, and more big dreams.

“I would love to be a (HEFY) trip leader when I’m older. As well as, I mean, I think starting a non-profit would be super awesome, but you already have to already be super rich to do that… But I would really love to do it! I would also love to work with Model UN after law school. Being an ambassador or something would be really awesome because I love learning about national and foreign politics, I think is super interesting.”

Conde has loved her high school experience, with all the new people she has met, participating in debate and other extra curriculars, and with what she has learned to help her in the future.