• Students acquire confidence as they learn collaboration, respect and diplomacy.
Nine Star Valley High School students attended the Model UN event At Jackson High School November 11-12. Model UN is a program that places students in mock delegations that represent countries that participate in the United Nations. Students prepare by studying world issues and developing ideas to solve real world problems.
Sharolyn Stauffer, who teaches History and Social Studies at SVHS, advises the students as they prepare and participate in the event. “This program is not run by the United Nations itself,” said Stauffer in an interview with SVI Media last week. Similar events and conferences at high schools, colleges and universities are offered to students throughout the world. “The focus is not debate” or promoting a political or social agenda. It’s about “solving problems and building consensus together. It is about diplomacy.”
Students prepare for the event by studying the political and social histories of specific countries and the issues that those countries face. When they arrive at the event, they step into mock roles as delegates and representatives of those countries who have gathered to discuss world challenges and find solutions to those. At the conclusion of the event, “they vote as a general assembly on the resolutions that they passed in their individual committees,” Stauffer explained.
Junior Anahi Barnes-Boch attended for the first time this year. “Model UN was challenging because it was very much out of my comfort zone, but I connected a lot with people and learned more group cooperation and collaborative skills. I’m not that great at group projects and collaboration, but I learned a little bit better how to work with people and how to come to a consensus about things. Realistically, I’m not going to be on my own in any of the things that I do in the future, so learning to work with other people now will be a lot better than trying to figure it out later.” Barnes-Boch plays the clarinet with the SVHS Marching Braves and is proud of the personal growth that she achieved through her Model UN experience. “I felt knowledgeable about my topic [of Disarmament and Development].”
Representing the United Kingdom, David Howe, who is also a Track Athlete at SVHS, was awarded an Honorable Mention as Best Delegate on the committee he worked with. “We focused on present-day issues and we talked a lot about the conflict in the Sudan and the war going on there. We deliberated to create possible solutions to the conflict. It was fun being able to work together with people of different perspectives. You might think you have a really good solution until other countries that are from different cultures or backgrounds disagree with the way you’re going about it and you have to rework everything. I represented a lot of Western culture and had disagreements with Eastern countries like China and Russia.” Howe felt pride in a compromise that he developed that included both China and Russia in the solution. Howe’s most important take-away from the experience was the value of compromise and considering the possibility that another individual might have a better solution to a problem than the one you have already designed.
Jayci Allred, who is a freshman welder with the Star Valley FFA and who plays the tenor saxophone with the Marching Braves, also attended the event, representing Ethiopia and exploring the economic and social issues that plague third world countries. “You got a lot of perspectives that challenged your view. Representing a less fortunate country, I really had to fight for what I wanted. I had to talk with other less fortunate countries because the bigger countries would take all the focus and just focus on what they wanted to do, so we had to fight and talk a lot. Not fight, per se, but discuss with a louder voice, because if you didn’t talk, they wouldn’t know. I made an alliance with the countries of Africa and South America. You have to be confident, otherwise you’re going to get nowhere if you can’t talk about what you need to talk about and you have to get your point across.”
Carson Draney enjoyed meeting new people and creating new friendships with students from throughout the state. Draney learned “to communicate with people, to present an opinion formally, and to work with others to come up with real world solutions. I also learned to work together, and to have empathy for problems that I do not have.”
Stauffer sees immense value in this experience for her students. “I love Model UN because it’s about working together. They work hard to research the issues their committees are assigned, and they also learn the basics of parliamentary procedure. Jackson Hole High School always brings in an inspiring keynote speaker with significant experience in global relations and advocacy. I am always reminded how passionate young people can be about understanding and solving significant problems in the world, and they inspire me with the ways they practice diplomatic skills.”
