| Model UN empowers students |
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| Written by Doug Horner |
| Friday, 27 November 2009 13:18 |
Calgary high-school students return from conference in MontrealA model UN conference awakens students to the dramatic arena of international relations while connecting them with other young minds from around the world.“I always thought I was a unique political geek, it was so great to meet people who share those similar interests,” Shimon Sherrington said. Sherrington was part of a 13-student delegation from Western Canada High School that travelled to Montreal in November for the 2009 Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium. After three days of intense debate the students left with a renewed respect for the UN’s herculean task. “At first I wondered what takes resolutions so long to pass and then watching each of these committees and after three hours they were still on the same topic. There were just so many different countries battling for their own ideas. I definitely have a lot more appreciation for what the UN does,” said Grade 12 student Angela Schneider. The symposium is one of the most prominent model UN conferences in North America. Almost one thousand students from Canada, the United States and as far away as Trinidad and Tobago gathered in Montreal for the event from Nov. 12-15. The conference was an organizational feat pulled off by 200 undergraduate students from McGill University. This fall, the group received an encouraging letter from the UN Secretary General himself. “As you participate in this Model United Nations, you will get a taste for the complexity of international relations. This exercise is no empty role play. Half the world’s population is under 25. You are their representatives,” wrote Ban Ki-Moon. Sheisha Kulkarni is in her last year of an honors degree in economics from McGill University and was the secretary general for this year’s model UN conference. Kulkarni has been involved with the event for the past six years and remembers how it felt when she first took part as a Grade 11 student. “It was a weekend where people actually cared about what I had to say about issues and I felt like I could do something to solve them,” Kulkarni said. Julie Muhlberger is a social studies teacher at Western Canada High School and she accompanied her school’s delegation. Muhlberger believes the experience is invaluable because it fills students with a sense of empowerment. The media, Muhlberger argues, barrages us with tragedy and hardship from around the world and this, she says, can leave young people feeling helpless. Attending an event like the model UN, says Muhlberger, can help students connect global issues to their own individual actions. “They not only learn about all these issues like the war in Afghanistan or the AIDS crisis in Africa but they debate about them and they work towards finding solutions,” Muhlberger said. Shimon Sherrington was representing Sudan and had to argue his country’s position regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Delegates are expected to arrive at the conference ready to assert their country’s interests. He had to be resourceful in digging up information about Sudan. “There was the Sudanese government webpage and I just translated from Arabic into English using Google,” Sherrington said. As part of the press corps, Angela Schneider was free to attend several different committees but had to report on them from the perspective of a Chinese Newspaper called the People’s Daily. “I was covering the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers conflict, so I had to support the governments side on that one because of the oil trade (with China),” Schneider said. |
