Bridging education and creating global citizens

Teresa Chan

More stories from Teresa Chan

In the atmosphere of a high speed and intense competition, Etowah’s brightest students in Model UN represented the country of Liberia during the two-day competition at Georgia Tech.

According to the organization’s website, the students, known as “delegates” debate current issues on vast agendas and learn how the international community acts on its concerns about peace and security, human rights, the environment, food and hunger, economic development, and globalization,

Model UN serves to mimic the actual United Nations, an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. Schools from all around the world converge at the conference to represent different countries other than their own. This high level activity requires strong comprehension skills and patience for difficult tasks inside each committee.

“The competition requires extensive knowledge about the country being represented, as well as negotiating and problem-solving skills,” Mary Shell, social studies teacher and Model UN adviser, said.

Donell Osborn, social studies teacher, also accompanied the team as an adviser this year.

One rookie, Hope Miller, sophomore, heard about the intensity of the competition, and soon witnessed it first-hand. She said friends could turn into enemies at any moment and such intense competition sometimes caused delegates to act out.

“A delegate on my committee was even caught for cheating, and the person in charge had to come in and talk to us about the rules,” Miller said.

To prepare for such an intense competition, the team meets once a week to discuss strategies and formulate solutions to their country’s problems.  Each student is assigned to a committee in which they need to prepare a solution. Every member completes their individual research and turn in position papers before the competition.

“There were a lot of schools competing, so it was really high speed,” Pilar Lewis, sophomore said. “Debating with other kids and interacting with everyone was cool.”

Etowah and The Talon’s own, Lillie Russell, senior, won first place in media and news team at the competition.