This past weekend, 43 BH-BL High School students in the Model United Nations club attended the 43rd annual Central New York Model UN Conference at Syracuse University. The two-day conference was attended by more than 800 student delegates from more than 3 dozen schools throughout upstate NY.
Student delegates participated in five separate committee sessions over the two days and each committee focused on two main topics, along with various crises that presented themselves.
Model UN Co-advisors Renee Tolan and Jeff Reynolds are they “are proud of the commitment and dedication of all the BH-BL attendees who represented the district with enthusiasm, professionalism, responsibility and respect.”
Additionally, four students were recognized with awards by their committee chairs for their skills and efforts:
- Max Mackey won the Outstanding Delegate for the Economic and Financial Committee award,
- Ali Rispole won the Strategic Vanguard Award for the UN Disarmament and International Security Committee award,
- Emily Silva won the Best New Delegate for the Special Political and Decolonization Committee award, and
- Samuel Wood won the Best Paper for the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee award.
High school teachers Dennis Harrington and Stephanie Sutton also served as faculty chaperones on the trip and provided valuable support to the student delegates.
Model UN is an educational simulation centered around the activities of the United Nations with the goals of furthering understanding about the United Nations, educating students about international relations and world issues, and promoting peace and the work of the UN through cooperation and diplomacy. BH-BL students in Model UN must do extensive preparation for each conference, including completion of background research on country and committee topics, completion of a research paper using Chicago-style formatting, and they must understand the rules and procedures of Harvard-style debate.