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Roeper Attends National High School Model UN in New York
March 19, 2012
Sixteen members of the Roeper Model United Nations participated in the National HS Model United Nations (NHSMUN) in New York City, March 7-10, 2012. The Roeper School, representing the Republic of Botswana, was one of over 200 high schools involved in the conference, and the only Michigan school attending. The conference drew over 3,000 students of schools from four continents and a dozen nations, including 300 students from Italy.
Delegation head junior Aaron Bernard did careful work helping fellow Botswana delegates prepare for the conference. Following extensive research of their topics, each delegation wrote two, four-page position papers explaining Botswana’s policy. The NHSMUN conference was the final MUN experience for Roeper’s five seniors, Erik Burbulla, Nathan Flynn, Ruth Lane, Rodger MacArthur, andRebecca Michelson. Also representing Roeper were juniors Tom Allen, Jacob Dalton, Claire Dennis, Samantha Heiman, Brooke Michelson, Spenser Solys, and sophomores Farid AlSabeh, Rachel Nichols, Eli Simons, and Levi Teitel. The conference was chaperoned by Roeper MUN Advisor Michael Ruddy and Roeper Lower School Art teacher Jarie Ruddy.
Highlights of the conference included opening address by human rights activist Shulamith Koening, a ninety minute briefing at the Botswana Permanent Mission to the UN by Counselor Mr. Phologo Jim Gaumakwe, six intense conference sessions over four days, discussion and negotiation of topics as varied as State-Sponsored Terrorism, Water Crisis in the Middle East, and Promotion of Green Jobs, and closing session on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, including voting with the UN “big board” instant tabulation system. Related activities included Friday of tours the Museum of Modern Art and Little Italy, visit to the Ground Zero Memorial, and a walking tour visiting Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center and numerous other New York sights in Midtown.
All Roeper delegates did excellent work representing Botswana in their committees, including the five main General Assembly committees (Disarmament, Economic, Social/Humanitarian, Special Political, Legal), and on five specialized bodies (UNESCO, Forum on Forests, International Labor Organization, Industrial Development Organization, and the World Bank.) Unlike most Model UN conferences, NHSMUN gives no individual awards and only ten distinguished delegation awards.
Roeper’s Model United Nations Team in New York City
Founded in 1941, The Roeper School is a uniquely personalized, coeducational school for gifted and talented children in preschool through grade 12 from over 60 communities in southeast Michigan. With campuses in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, Michigan, Roeper was conceived on founding principles that recognize the power of education, choice and self-expression, and the transformative impact these principles have on young minds.