|
Students to participate in mock United Nations
The floor of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City will play host to 10 SCSU students from the International Relations Club next week.
The students will be participating in the National Model United Nations, along with over 150 other schools from around the country. SCSU will be representing the African country of Zambia at mock UN functions and hearings, some of which will actually occur on the floor of the UN General Assembly.
"We have been preparing resolutions and doing research as if we were the ambassadors from Zambia," said Peter Schneider, President of the International Relations Club. "It is going to be really exciting because we will get to meet with the actual Zambian ambassador next week."
Schneider added that he hoped the actual UN would take notice of the proceedings.
"The National Model UN is more liberal than the actual UN, because you have a lot of college students and not politicians," he said. "I think it will be a more open forum for us to talk about human rights in Zambia, and the rest of southern Africa. Hopefully, the UN will see what kind of resolutions we can come up with."
The International Relations Club has been working on this project since October. They will be leaving for New York on Sunday, and will be staying until April 1.
"It's exciting that it is finally here," said SCSU junior, Tami Klempke, who will be making the trip.
The cost for the trip was originally in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $6,000, according to Schneider, but the group has received some money from the school, the student government, and their own fundraising efforts.
"The people we have going on this trip have been really gung-ho about fundraising," Schneider said. "We have put in a lot of hours working concessions and doing things at the Excel Center. It will only cost about $100 per person after all the fundraising we did."
Political science professor, Linda Butenhoff, acted as the group's advisor, and said that she has been very impressed with their dedication.
"I let them know about (the National Model UN) last spring, and they really took on the burden of researching it and doing fundraising for it, so they deserve all the credit," Butenhoff said.
Both Schneider and Butenhoff commented that the project has taken up a huge chunk of the students' time.
"Its like taking another class, with all the research and time they put into this," Butenhoff said.
"We have had a good group who has put a lot of time in," Schneider said.
This will be the first SCSU group to go to the National Model UN, and both Butenhoff and Schneider hope it will open the door for future groups. In previous years, the SCSU's International Relations Club has sent representatives to a regional Model UN, which will be taking place in Moorhead, but they decided this year to skip the regionals and head right for the floor of the UN in New York.
"I'm excited for them," Butenhoff said. "I wish I was going, because this is something they will remember for the rest of their lives."
The group will be driving out to New York on Sunday, and staying at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. On the way back, they will be stopping in Princeton, New Jersey to pick up a boat for the SCSU rowing team, before returning to St. Cloud April 1.
Jake Zisla can be reached at: [email protected]
|
|
|
|
Privacy Policy Network Advertising Article Syndication
|
|
