Inspiring San Diego Students to Explore Their World…

We are very pleased to announce that the second annual Rotary District 5340 Model United Nations Conference was held on the weekend of March 25-26, 2006, with great success. Twelve clubs in the district sponsored 18 teams which represented as many countries, with high school students stepping into the shoes of international diplomats for the weekend. They debated 3 resolutions, adapted from resolutions at the real UN, which pertained to 1) the border conflicts between Ethiopia and Eritrea, 2) setting up a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, and 3) services for aging populations. In addition we staged an "international crisis" in the evening about North Korea firing off test missiles, and the U.S response. To assist, Marty Levine of Channel 7/39 had taped two "news clips" about this developing crisis. The students became highly involved in debating how to handle this problem. Our 2 speakers were Mr. Isoda, Representative from the Consulate General of Japan, and Mr. Alan Moore, Representative from the Consulate General of South Africa. Mr. Moore later shared that he was extremely impressed with the intelligence and leadership of the students! So were we!

Dory Beatrice and Marty Rosenstein, La Jolla Golden Triangle RC

On the weekend of April 2-3 2005, the first Rotary District 5340 Model UN program was held, at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Kearny Mesa. All involved seem to feel that it turned out very well. It was a simulation of the United Nations, with 15 teams of high school students sponsored by their Rotary Clubs--each team representing a country and debating resolutions that were very close to real resolutions discussed at the UN...We had been able to hook up with High Tech High School, which has a strong Model UN program, and they sent us a team of experienced students to run the conference, which added considerably to the experience. In addition, wanting to expose the kids to real-world issues and people, we had some excellent speakers: a torture survivor from Iran, Miko Peled and Nader Elbanna speaking about Jewish-Palestinian dialog and their wheelchair project, and then the Lost Boys of Sudan. Since one of the resolutions the kids were debating all day was about the Sudan and Darfur, they were thrilled to meet the Lost Boys and have a chance to talk with them. Afterwards they were particularly swarmed by the girls!

Then we sent them off to bed, and knocked on their doors 15 minutes later to stage a simulated international crisis for them to deal with. We had been able to get a real news broadcaster from a real news studio who made 3 short segments of news stating that Taiwan had just declared independence, and China had launched warships across the strait. Then the U.S. said they would launch ships, and then North Korea said the same. The kids became fully engaged debating this situation and what to do, and they were quite brilliant! At the end of course we told them it was a simulation.

The program was quite exciting and hopefully valuable to the kids in exposure to global issues and trying to grapple with them, experience in critical thinking, public speaking, and negotiation skills. In addition we challenged them to think about what sort of contribution they will make to our world.