Changing opinions and disagreements
The future, it’s coming and fast. That may be obvious but we do have many significant things coming our way, for better or for worse. One very significant organization that has changed the way we do global politics is the United Nations (UN), an organization where most of the countries of the world meet and discuss big topics that can affect many places and many people. They can discuss topics such as military conflicts, economic issues, human rights, the environment, and peacekeeping. The UN also has many agencies and branches with many different missions some of which include the World Health Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN environment program, the UN human rights council, UN peacekeeping, the UN Security Council, and so much more.
While the UN is a very large organization, there are many activities that much smaller groups can do. One great example is the Model UN clubs that many high schools and colleges have. We even have one right here at our school! Run by two of our teachers, Mr. Adam Whitmer and Mr. Marius Tesch. In the club are around 16 students excited to get a taste of the excitement of politics. One such student is freshman, Christopher Le. “I chose human rights for the United Arab Emirates because I’m interested in human rights, but I also find the UAE very interesting,” said Le.
The Model UN’s latest project is a 3 day conference at the University of Central Florida later in late October. Another one in Altamonte Springs, coming in March will definitely be an exciting one. At the conference will be a reenactment of typical UN meeting. Discussions on multiple topics and situations will take place. Some of which are not real as it is a model of the UN and some of the topics discussed have not happened yet.
From simple topics like the environment to even the fall of North Korea, there is a wide variety of things to discuss focusing on everyone’s interests. Timber Creek will mainly focus on just a few topics. These include the World Health Organization, the UN human rights council, the Security Council, and North Korea.
Work for the conference later this month has already begun with groups having been set up and the position papers that will be discussed there are being prepared for. Many seem to already be prepared for the conference, including freshman Ian Sutphin, who will be representing Slovenia at the conference. As mentioned, many schools and colleges have had (and still do have) model UN clubs that were around for many years. In fact, the Sutphin’s mother participated in her model UN club at her college. When asked why he joined TC model UN he replied, “Because my mom said that it was good and had a good time.”
As the Model UN conference draws closer it will be interesting what the represented countries will discuss.
