Revere High School (RHS) Model United Nations (UN) club is awaiting the Revere Board of Education (BOE)’s approval for an international crisis conference set for December in Chicago.
Model United Nations is a club that allows students to mimic what happens during actual United Nations meets in the past and in the future. English teacher Leigh Haynam advises Revere’s Model United Nations.
“[Students learn how to] work well with others, to solve problems, to engage in public speaking, communicate clearly and to draft resolutions that can pose solutions to the problems the world faces,” Haynam said.
The Chicago conference is a crisis conference, meaning delegates simulate how representatives from different countries, or the same country, can work together to find a plan and solution. Conferences randomize delegates’ countries, allowing students to further go through more research to prepare for the conference.
“[Randomizing countries allows students different countries allows for] learn[ing] more about those countries and, going back to the growth component of it, . . . it broadens their understanding of the world,” Haynam said.
An outline for the Chicago crisis has already been sent out to advisers whose clubs are participating. The conference is set in the year 1956 with the delegates doing a simulation of the Suez Canal crisis, the second Arab-Israeli war.
Delegates will try to resolve or make a resolution on topics, and they will treat the conference as though they are trying to solve an issue in real life.
Haynam said the delegates will be “grappling with real things that happened . . . as well… [and deal with the] same things that may unexpectedly arise as in real life, conditions may change,” Haynam said.
The conference trip will happen between December 4-7 of this school year.
Senior Max Braun, president of Model UN, said, “[The venue is] in Millenium Park” Chicago, Illinois. This will be the first time Model UN will take delegates out of state.
Delegates going on the trip will have several days of preparing information, celebrating wins, discussing and concluding with peers. This leaves this trip with little downtime for students.
Haynam said, “The day the [delegates] arrive, there will be registration and then they go right into delegate training.” When delegates arrive, there will be “opening ceremonies and a banquet, so [students will] have a plated dinner and guest speakers that would be diplomats in the field.”
The opportunity for the Model UN club to prepare for and attend large international conferences such as this one allows for growth and opportunities for the students involved within the club to follow their dreams, according to Haynam.
Gabby Rodriguez, treasurer of Model UN, said that she “wants to major in foreign relations and political science.”
One of the goals of Model UN is to enhance public speaking skills. One of the ways they do this is by presenting speeches during conferences. The Chicago conference will supply delegates with a large crowd that will give a good experience for growth.
Haynam said that the conference involves “a speech in front of an international audience of a bigger size than Cleveland. . . . This shows growth in the program, and in particular, is going to offer an opportunity for the students to grow.”
Haynam and RHS Principal Doug Faris are offering this opportunity to officers only.
“It was Mr. Faris’s idea to keep it to just offering it to just the officers, and let’s see [if], as a small group of officers, . . . it is worth doing future trips to Chicago,” Haynam said.
Due to the club’s young age, Rodriguez struggled to get prepared for this trip for when the approval arrives.
“[A] big part was getting my parents approval,” Rodriguez said.
According to Haynam, delegates involved with the crisis will “learn the soft skills of diplomacy.”
Haynam notes that this conference is the first time that the RHS Model UN club has taken up a conference opportunity outside of Ohio. This opens more opportunities in the future including taking more delegates to bigger conferences.
