On March 1, 2018, 10 STS delegates from the school’s Model UN Program travelled to New York City to participate in the National High School Model United Nations for only the second time in the program’s history. This is one of the largest, most esteemed Model UN conferences in North America and one of the ‘most international’ with delegates from over 50 countries in attendance.
Model UN is an experiential learning opportunity, which strives to strengthen students’ research, negotiation and consensus-building skills, while also fostering international understanding and a greater comprehension of the complex forces that drive decisionmaking around global issues. In a simulated United Nations environment, students are tasked with representing their assigned country’s position on a given international issue such as cyber security, GMO food production or the Rohinghya refugee crisis. In concert with other delegates, they work to build coalitions and a plan of action to promote international cooperation while adhering to objectives of national interest and their government’s foreign policy. It is a challenging line to walk, but one our delegates are adept at walking.
After the Opening Plenary Session, held in the General Assembly of the United our delegates were duly inspired and ready to begin three days and 18 hours of debate, negotiation and deal-making with the aim of making the world a better, safer place. Our Spartans made significant contributions to the work in their committees and manoeuvered to ensure that they became major sponsors on successfully passed resolution papers. Such leadership is critical is critical to the cogent shaping of these plans of action that are intended to guide the work of the international community and indepth knowledge of the issue areas and elements of the solution positioned our students well.
Continuing a fine tradition in the STS Model UN Program, our students represented their school and themselves very well, regularly eliciting comments from conference staff about their confident speaking skills and ability to work collaboratively in committee. In addition to this positive feedback, Emily Kreuger '19 and Max Christie '20, earned an Award of Merit for their work representing Czechoslovakia in the Historical Security Council, where they tackled the Cold War crisis of Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia in 1979. Collectively, the entire STS delegation was recognized with and Award of Excellence for their research and preparation and for the contributions made to resolution building. It was a wonderful way to cap off 3 days of simulated international diplomacy and we are eagerly looking forward to next year’s conference.