Auburn University World Affairs Seminar 2012
Posted by Bill Wicker
on Aug 26, 2012
Each year our club goes through an evaluation of local students interested in participating in the Auburn University World Affairs Youth Seminar. Our club selects and sponsors one student to participate in the World Affairs Seminar. This year our representative was Molly Coovert.
Rotarian Tod Pukas and Molly Coovert
Rotarian Tod Pukas and Molly Coovert
The World Affairs Youth Seminar is held annually at Auburn University. The seminar is conducted by faculty, staff and students from Auburn's College of Education. It is open to rising 10th to 12th graders and uses the Model United Nations (MUN) forum to examine global issues in a "real world" setting. This year's seminar took place July 8th to 13th. Students assume the role of delegates from many countries. They attempt to accurately represent the viewpoints of the country they are assigned in daily MUN General Assembly sessions.
Molly recently visited our club to report on her experience and to thank our club. I asked Molly to comment on her experiences for this article. The following was provided by Molly:
My experience at the World Affairs Youth Seminar at Auburn University was, by far, the highlight of my summer, and I have only you to thank. As the United Nations delegate for Lebanon, I studied various issues affecting the world today and drafted resolutions which, in my hopes, would help resolve these issues.
On the first day of camp, our topic was drug trafficking, my proposition was to continue the efforts of bringing down the higher--ups of the drug trafficking industry, but also facilitate the agricultural producers of the illicit drugs in the transition to the production of legitimate crops; this resolution was passed. On the second day, our topic was adolescence; upon further research, I was shocked that child trafficking was not addressed in several nations’ governments. So, I drafted a resolution which outlawed child trafficking in all UN nations; this resolution was passed unanimously. Cyber Security was the topic of the third day, and the resolution I drafted for this issue was to recognize that a one-size-fits-all resolution could not possibly act efficiently in all nations due to the varying situations, and also recognize the sovereignty of each individual nation and their right to enforce laws that act most beneficial to their own country. This resolution passed as well. Finally, our fourth and final topic of the seminar was Syria. As a neighboring country of Syria, Lebanon receives a numerous amount of Syrian refugees, to alleviate the financial burden of the refugees on Lebanon and other neighboring countries of Syria, my resolution requested financial aid from the UN, as well as protection for the Syrian youth who are often used as human shields and child soldiers for the violent Syrian rebel forces; this resolution passed.
In total, there were only eight resolutions to be passed at this seminar, and four of them were mine, I wanted to let you know this because I'm sure you'd be pleased to know that this scholarship was not wasted, and that I worked very hard and derived many lessons from my week in Alabama. I believe I now understand the unity of the human race and the importance of international peace and cooperation. I formed many bonds of friendships from kids all around the US and I still keep in contact with them via Facebook! (I "liked" the Rotary Club page.)
As I said at the last meeting, a million "thank yous" wouldn't suffice in expressing my gratitude to the Rotary Club for sending me to the Seminar and welcoming me to your meeting. This summer experience will surely stay with me for my entire life, and has acted as a catalyst for my future endeavors and interests in international cooperation.
Molly recently visited our club to report on her experience and to thank our club. I asked Molly to comment on her experiences for this article. The following was provided by Molly:
My experience at the World Affairs Youth Seminar at Auburn University was, by far, the highlight of my summer, and I have only you to thank. As the United Nations delegate for Lebanon, I studied various issues affecting the world today and drafted resolutions which, in my hopes, would help resolve these issues.
On the first day of camp, our topic was drug trafficking, my proposition was to continue the efforts of bringing down the higher--ups of the drug trafficking industry, but also facilitate the agricultural producers of the illicit drugs in the transition to the production of legitimate crops; this resolution was passed. On the second day, our topic was adolescence; upon further research, I was shocked that child trafficking was not addressed in several nations’ governments. So, I drafted a resolution which outlawed child trafficking in all UN nations; this resolution was passed unanimously. Cyber Security was the topic of the third day, and the resolution I drafted for this issue was to recognize that a one-size-fits-all resolution could not possibly act efficiently in all nations due to the varying situations, and also recognize the sovereignty of each individual nation and their right to enforce laws that act most beneficial to their own country. This resolution passed as well. Finally, our fourth and final topic of the seminar was Syria. As a neighboring country of Syria, Lebanon receives a numerous amount of Syrian refugees, to alleviate the financial burden of the refugees on Lebanon and other neighboring countries of Syria, my resolution requested financial aid from the UN, as well as protection for the Syrian youth who are often used as human shields and child soldiers for the violent Syrian rebel forces; this resolution passed.
In total, there were only eight resolutions to be passed at this seminar, and four of them were mine, I wanted to let you know this because I'm sure you'd be pleased to know that this scholarship was not wasted, and that I worked very hard and derived many lessons from my week in Alabama. I believe I now understand the unity of the human race and the importance of international peace and cooperation. I formed many bonds of friendships from kids all around the US and I still keep in contact with them via Facebook! (I "liked" the Rotary Club page.)
As I said at the last meeting, a million "thank yous" wouldn't suffice in expressing my gratitude to the Rotary Club for sending me to the Seminar and welcoming me to your meeting. This summer experience will surely stay with me for my entire life, and has acted as a catalyst for my future endeavors and interests in international cooperation.
Gratefully Yours,
Molly Coovert
Interested in being a sponsor?
Download the website sponsorship guide
Download the website sponsorship guide