Advisor Nick Vooys with members of Gateway’s new “Model United Nations Club” (left to right): Ursula Barth, Alex Meyers, Adam Rioux, Brian Lak, Cory Bisbee, Jessica Lashtur, Casey Pease, Jenna Margarites, Jedadiah Henry and Tyler Kornacki. (Photo submitted)
HUNTINGTON – Gateway Regional High School organized a new club this year, and it is off to a strong start. The Model United Nations Club was proposed by junior Cory Bisbee last September, and has secured an advisor, developed a constitution, elected officers, and won funding from the Gateway Education Foundation to support their start-up year.
The club morphed from the school’s previous debate team and allows more students to compete. At students’ request, former Debate Team Advisor Mr. Nicholas Vooys agreed to continue with the new club.
Model United Nations is an academic activity in which students represent delegates from various countries, serving in simulated United Nations committees, and debating solutions to issues facing the world.
“The response was immediate and unbelievable,” recalled President Cory Bisbee. “Upon hearing of the new club, students from all walks of life showed interest. The support offered by other students, teachers and the community at large was, and continues to be, phenomenal.”
Other officers include Casey Pease, Senior Vice President, Public Relations; Jessica Lashtur, Vice President, Activities and Finance; and Ursula Barth, Secretary-Historian.
The club started by learning more about Model UN, studied how the real United Nations functions, and learned how team competitions work at MUN (Model United Nations) conferences. They sent a team of eight delegates (the officers, plus Tyler Kornacki, Jenna Margarites, Brian Lak and Adam Rioux) to Bard College at Simon’s Rock, which hosted a conference on January 24 and 25. Delegates were able to experience actual Model U.N. committees for the first time, while also meeting new people and making new friends.
“Some of us got stressed preparing for our first conference,” noted Bisbee. “But our hard work paid off.”
At small conferences, prizes are typically awarded in each committee for Best Delegate, Outstanding Delegate, Honorable Mention and Verbal Commendation. Gateway earned the top award (Best Delegate) in two of the three committees offered at the conference, with Bisbee winning for representing France in the Security Council and Pease winning for representing US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in the Crisis Committee. The team picked up two other honors: Margarites won an Honorable Mention representing Brazil in the Social-Humanitarian Committee of the UN General Assembly, and Barth received a Verbal Commendation, representing Argentina on the same committee. In total, Gateway received the second highest number of awards of any school at the conference.
A prestigious conference that the group hoped to attend is the Boston College Model United Nations Conference (EagleMUNC). “This was also one of the more expensive conferences,” noted Bisbee, who added that the young group would not have time to do enough fundraising to make it feasible to send a team. Bisbee and Barth submitted an application to the Gateway Education Foundation to cover the cost of going to Boston. At the club’s first meeting following the Simon’s Rock conference, a reply letter from the Foundation was read approving the request for $2,750.
“The members of GRHS-MUN were both astonished and absolutely overjoyed,” reported Bisbee. “They were incredibly thankful for the generosity of the Gateway Education Foundation in assisting the club to try and achieve one of its dreams.”
The club continues to prepare for its next conference and has begun planning fundraisers in recognition of its responsibility to contribute to its own financial needs.
They also continue to dream big, and have formed a preliminary Planning Committee with the goal of organizing a Model UN conference at Gateway, hopefully for the spring of 2015.
Principal Jason Finnie has watched the club unfold all year. “This endeavor is a challenge that very few students are willing to take on. I am impressed and truly excited for them,” Finnie said. “We thank Mr. Vooys and the Foundation for supporting an experience that is bound to have a profound effect on the education of these students.”
GRHS-MUN meets after school every week on Wednesdays (“affectionately referred to by the club as MUNdays,” quipped Bisbee) from 2 – 4 p.m. It currently has about a dozen active members and looks forward to adding to their already stellar performance.
GRHS-MUN aims to teach and develop students’ skills in research, writing, public speaking and debate, and problem solving and conflict resolution — all vital skills that prepare students for further education, entering the workforce, and being good citizens. The club also hopes to increase awareness of global issues and spread knowledge of other countries, cultures and perspectives.
