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Model UN empowers participants
Kimberly Hosey
Mesa Legend
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Chinh Pham Mesa Legend
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| Students preparing for international debates. |
The United Nations convened recently – at MCC – to
discuss crucial world issues.
Eighty students from four area high schools represented over 60
countries at the MCC-hosted Model United Nations simulation for
high school students on Feb. 6 and 7.
The event, in its sixth year, was held in the Kirk Student Center
and organized by MCC political science professor Brian Dille.
Each committee represented at the conference tackled different
issues. The General Assembly addressed cultural preservation and
protection as well as human smuggling and trafficking, the Sixth
Committee reassessed the Geneva Convention and the concept of terrorism
and the Security Council focused on security and stability in the
Middle East and the threat of weapons of mass destruction.
According to Dille, though other high school U.N. conferences exist,
the event hosted by MCC is unique in the level of preparation required
for students to participate.
For a school to participate in the conference, students must select
countries to represent as early as September. Next, they must spend
months studying the country’s policies and recent actions
regarding each issue and prepare a policy statement explaining
the history of the issue, the current situation and their country’s
proposal for U.N. action.
“
There are model U.N. conferences that don’t require preparation,
but at this one we try to keep a very high plane of discussion,
so we require quite a bit of preparation,” Dille said, and
added that unlike some conferences, MCC’s is not a fundraiser,
but rather an MCC-funded “academic event” for which
high schools pay very little.
Despite the long hours of hard work involved, many students develop
a passion for the conference.
“
It’s hard to get schools to begin because it is work, but
once they’ve done it I can’t keep them away,” Dille
said. “They want to keep coming back. From a teacher’s
point of view, it teaches so much, and it’s all self-learning;
and from a student point of view, they just have so much fun, even
though it’s a lot of work, and they get addicted to it.”
This “addiction” arises both from the students’ dedication
to the project and from the many benefits they acquire from the
conference, such as skills they can apply later in school and life.
The first such skill students learn as delegates is effective research. “To
write the policy statement they have to discover what their country
has done – and when you’re Uganda, where are you going
to find out what your official policy is on cultural preservation?
You have to really dig to find that information,” Dille said.
Also, delegates hone writing skills. Research may yield a wealth
of information, but students must “boil it down it down into
one page,” Dille said.
“
The grammar, spelling, concepts and the actual policy position
all has to be perfect before I’ll take it,” he added,
and said that delegates must go through several drafts for each
policy statement.
The most important skill delegates learn, according to Dille, is
how to build consensus.
He said each delegate’s job is to represent their country’s
interests, but also to “get that room of people to all agree
on something,” through persuasion as well as compromise.
“
That’s a great skill. That’s something you can take
with you to any major or career path. If you can build consensus,
then the sky’s the limit to what you can do,” Dille
said.
Justin Peterson, representing Guinea, and Katie Peterson, representing
Chile, sought such a consensus while discussing the roadmap to
peace in the Security Council. The two students, both from Mountain
View High School, tackled issues such as economic aid and the credibility
of U.N. resolutions.
MCC students participate in a Model U.N. conference as well, and
will attend the Model United Nations Far West conference, held
in San Francisco April 16 to 20. To participate in the April conference,
students are required to serve on the secretariat for the high
school conference.
“
It’s part of their training,” Dille said.“If
they run this conference then they know how to act and what to
do as a delegate at the other conference.”
Because of the dedication and academic diligence required by the
MCC program, MCC is highly respected at the San Francisco conference. “It’s
one place where a freshman from MCC will be talking to a senior
from Berkely, and they will say, ‘Wow; you’re from
MCC?’” Dille said.
In addition to MCC students, alumni also help run the high school
conference.
MCC alumnus Jonathan Brown served as chair for the General Assembly.
This is the third year Brown has been involved with the Model U.N.
conference. He started as a delegate in the college conference
and now helps current MCC students host the high school conference.
“
I wish I could come back and do (the college conference) again,
but I don’t have time with my schedule,” said Brown,
who is now a student at Arizona State University.
Tim Brunty, also a MCC alumnus, chaired the General Assembly. He
has been involved with Model U.N. conferences for nine years, and
also serves on the board of directors for the San Francisco conference.
While most students who participate in the high school conference
do not attend MCC when they graduate, Dille said those who participate
as college students reap the same benefits.
“
We work that magic with them, so after they go to MCC, then they
go on and do amazing things,” Dille said. Back to Top
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