Students from the River Falls Public Montessori School shared their experience participating in the Model United Nations Conference in Chicago, IL. The goal of the Model UN program is to bring students together to solve real-world issues such as clean water to all, gender equality, global sustainability, etc. Students at this year’s conference came from all of the United States and Canada, totaling more than 200 students.
Students from the River Falls Public Montessori School shared their experience participating in the Model United Nations Conference in Chicago, IL. The goal of the Model UN program is to bring students together to solve real-world issues such as clean water to all, gender equality, global sustainability, etc. Students at this year’s conference came from all of the United States and Canada, totaling more than 200 students.
The students did a lot of work leading up to the conference. The group started in November, working on new topics each week. The purpose of this preparation was to understand how the global issues selected for this year’s program – social development rights for indigenous people and rights for people for disabilities - look from different perspectives in different countries. Once assigned a country, they did research, prepared poster boards, wrote position papers and gave short speeches. River Falls students were assigned to represent Guinea, Lebanon and Negara Brunei Darussalam.
At the conference in Chicago, during conference committee sessions, students from around the world act as ambassadors, working collaboratively and creatively to solve the issues at hand. This process culminated with students drafting and presenting resolutions related to their shared concerns and realities. These “final resolutions” are signed by the countries that helped draft the solutions, voted on and passed on the final day of the conference, and are sent on to the real United Nations. When asked about how this program compares to other Model UN programs, staff advisor Markell Lockwood noted the collaborative approach to this program, contrasting it with other programs that may be more focused on debate.
Highlights of the trip shared by the students included the car ride to Chicago, finishing the final draft of the position paper, and a celebratory dance party with popular rap artist Alexander Star. They said that the program is fun, educational and provides opportunities to meet a lot of people. When asked about challenges, students noted that it was difficult to find information on some topics for some countries, particularly regarding the rights of indigenous peoples. Students also talked about the difficulty of finalizing resolutions, as they had to represent the interests of all involved.
The Montessori students thanked Rotary for its financial support to help make their trip to Chicago possible!
Read more about this impressive group of young people.