StFX Model United Nations Society off to Harvard Model UN

A group of 14 students and their faculty advisor from StFX’s Model United Nations Society will travel to Boston from February 11-14, 2010 to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations.

The Harvard Model UN is the largest and most extensive conference of this nature in the world. Students attend from universities around the world as delegate teams represent the various actual member states of the UN.

A Model UN simulates the activities of the United Nations in proposing, debating, and voting on resolutions on major global issues. On the agenda for this annual session are issues such as “Nuclear Terrorism,” “Militarization of the Arctic,” “the Rights of Refugees,” “Ending World Hunger,” and “The Feminization of Poverty.”

StFX will send a team of 14 students led by Issam Rizvi and including Ryan Blood, Hilary Feltham, Gabrielle Fiore, Michael Greguol, Brigitte Hartt, Philip Jones, Christine Krause, Rory MacDonald, Natalie MacLean, Christopher Millar, Brendan Riley, and Ellen Wiken. Professor Steven Holloway is the faculty advisor. 

This year the team will role-play a delegation from Egypt: they will try to represent that country’s positions on the various committees and organizations of the UN and research how Egypt would vote on the issues.
  
The experience each student receives at the conference increases their awareness of the global issues that world leaders face. Students who participate learn a great deal about specific issues, methods of resolution, and international cooperation.

The students participating will do so of their own initiative and are rewarded accordingly with the amount of effort they put forth. The conference is not simply an exercise, but also a competitive event with awards granted to top delegates on an individual basis, and also to top delegations, granted to the institution they represent.