• Each student represents a country and discusses critical issues in the world.
Nine students from Star Valley High School attended the 19th Annual Teton County Model United Nations conference on November 13-14 in Jackson. Students were organized into committees and participated in activities that model the vision and processes of the United Nations organization.
According to a press release from TCMUN, “Model UN is a simulation of the operations of the official United Nations, an organization that makes decisions impacting the entire world. Students represent real-world countries and participate in committees that work to solve current problems our world is facing. TCMUN hosted its inaugural conference in 2006 and welcomed seventy-two students from surrounding areas. Since then, around 2,500 students from the Mountain West region have participated in TCMUN. TCMUN has hosted 18 Teton County Model UN Conferences (1 totally student-led). These have been as small as 95 students and as large as more than 300 students.”
Students who attend these conferences “learn about the complexities of global political, social, economic, military, and environmental realities.” They learn how to use diplomacy in their work to influence others, listen to the needs of others, and focus on discovering common ground.
“Students work to build consensus and problem solve,” explained Sharolyn Stauffer, who served as advisor to the attending students, and as a World History Teacher at SVHS, in an interview with SVI Media last week. “It is about more than debating. Students write resolutions and vote on them in committee and then present them for voting in a whole General Assembly session at the end of the two-day conference.”
SVHS sophomore, Ainslie Bowman, attended TCMUN this year for the second time. “I was on the Food and Agriculture Organization [Committee], so we discussed different problems about food and agricultural issues. You’re able to learn how to solve problems and discuss important issues that we are facing in our world today.”
Bowman was assigned as a representative of Colombia in the model experience. She was invited to research subtopics within the scope of her committee’s focus and learn how Colombia approaches solving problems such as food insecurity.
With her research, she wrote a paper about “preventing disease in the global food supply chain and reducing food waste to combat global hunger. I researched my stance on those topics and was able to see what Colombia has done before to help with these issues and what they are doing as they look forward.”
Bowman discussed the problem with students assigned to represent other countries, which led to the writing of resolutions that might help solve this problem among the nations.
“One of Colombia’s main problems is food insecurity, and so being able to represent a smaller country that does really struggle with these issues gave me a new perspective,” said Bowman. “They are dealing with it first-hand, so they are really passionate about it.”
Bowman looks forward to returning to TCMUN the next two years. “I think that it’s really good to do this. It shows people that you want to problem solve and you’re able to cooperate with other people who have different views. I think it’s a really great experience.”
