 |
Wednesday,
April 14, 2004 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Students
learn at mock U.N. session
TCU
students represented Uruguay at the Model United Nations
Conference.
By
Kimberly Hopper
Staff Reporter
When Uruguay presents a financing and development resolution
at the next United Nations meeting, it may have originated
in Fort Worth.
Students in the Model United Nations class acted as delegates
for Uruguay on the General Assembly at the mock U.N. conference
in New York. After two semesters of preparation, the 12-member
class joined 3,100 other college students from around
the world in the conference from Tuesday to Saturday.
While at the conference, students met in the Great Hall
at the U.N. building. The resolutions they passed in each
committee will be given to the real United Nations with
the possibility of being used and passed there.
“I was a delegate for Uruguay on the General Assembly
and took the stance that a Uruguayan delegate would actually
take in the U.N.,” said Merica Halstrom, a sophomore
international political science major. “Every country
represented at the conference usually had two delegates
for this committee and our ultimate goal was to write
and pass resolutions.”
Students from TCU were chosen to represent Uruguay in
the one of four committees, the Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean Committee. The other three
committees were World Intellectual Property Organization,
International Atomic Energy Agency and International Criminal
Police Organization.
This is the first year TCU has offered the year-long Model
United Nations class, said Karen Luong, a senior political
science major.
“During class we would practice giving speeches because
as a delegate you had to give speeches before the committee,”
Luong said. “At the same time, we had to continue
learning about our issues and researching; even up to
the last few hours before we had to leave for New York,
we were still finding new information and research on
our topics.”
Students were able to meet with two actual delegates to
the United Nations from Uruguay, which gave them a better
idea of how to represent the country during the conference,Halstrom
said.
As representatives, their job was to compromise with others
while staying true to their own country, said Jessica
Thomason, a sophomore political science major. Students
quickly realized the challenges that real U.N. delegates
face while representing the small Latin American country.
“The most challenging aspect of the Model United
Nations Conference was being able to put forth Uruguay's
position on the issues,” Luong said. “At the
conference, you have a lot of countries throwing their
weight around and trying to push their agendas forward,
so we had to be careful that Uruguay's voice was not lost
in the crowd and not lose one's cool in the process.”
Even though being a delegate was challenging, it gave
students time to interact with peers from around the world,
said Ashley Wright, a junior political science and English
major.
“My favorite part of the conference was working with
the international students that were also participating
in the Model U.N.,” Wright said. “They brought
such a different perspective from the students from the
U.S.”
Halstrom said their hard work paid off when Uruguay’s
financing and development resolution passed.
Students were also rewarded with the opportunity to sight
see around New York, and Thomason said they were able
to see Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and Nathan
Lane. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
