Fossil’s very own Model United Nations is one of a kind within the Poudre School District. With a little over ten students in the club, the members of MUN are looking for more recognition and awareness in hopes that more students will join. In the club, students role-play as members from the United Nations and discuss issues that are currently on the UN agenda.
The UN, found in 1945 after World War II, is an intergovernmental organization created to promote cooperation and peace between countries in the hopes that a worldwide war will never happen again. Major issues the UN focuses on today are impacts on the environment from pollution, climate change, overpopulation, refugees, AIDS, human rights, terrorism, water resources, and women’s rights. Students involved in MUN research, discuss, and debate these topics as well.
At conferences, MUN participants are placed in committees where they represent members of a specific country. They know about the topic they will debate beforehand, and in preparation for the conference, students research the issue, their side of it, and formulate position papers that state the opinion of their assigned country. Depending on the conference, teams receive awards for the best papers, actions in crisis simulations, and students’ understanding of the world.
Members in MUN have their own positions of power within their club as well. At Fossil, the club has three Secretary Generals, Francesco Vassalli, Clifton Sutherland, and Christopher Van Lieu, who are in charge of all administrative tasks. The club also has a Director of Communications, Kathleen Lee. Lee believes that MUN is, “The first step in making the world a better place.”
MUN is a great opportunity for students to learn many important twenty-first century skills, including teamwork, public speaking, leadership, critical thinking, debating, and researching. Fossil’s MUN recently took third place at the Cherry Creek and Cherokee Trail High School’s MUN Conference on Saturday, November 14. Fossil will also be hosting their very own conference on February 27, 2016.
