Kettle Moraine students gain international perspective with Model UN

Posted: Feb. 20, 2013

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Charlie Parker and Ben Shaver represent Grenada on the Legal Committee.

Charlie Parker and Ben Shaver represent Grenada on the Legal Committee.

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Earlier this month, Kettle Moraine High School students participated in the Model United Nations of the University of Chicago Conference (MUNUC), representing the island country of Grenada. During this four-day conference, 11 KM students joined 2,500 students from around the world in educational simulations of the United Nations and other international affairs-themed bodies.

As part of the model UN experience, KM students represented a variety of bureaus and bodies related to Grenada. The students and their respective committees, bureaus and international bodies included Spencer Jastrow, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Alec Piefer, disarmament and international security; Jillian Drewes and Anna Penkert, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; Emily Merian, economic and financial; Charlie Parker and Ben Shaver, legal; Greta Kaufman and Lauren Piefer, social, humanitarian and cultural; and Jenna Greene and Monica McGill, World Health Organization. Both Ben Shaver and Charlie Parker received honorable mentions for their work on the Legal Committee.

KM students noted that a benefit to MUNUC was the opportunity it provided to communicate and work with students from across the globe. Their work with students from countries such as China, Turkey, Peru and Jordan was especially interesting. "Model UN is intriguing to me because of the opportunity to represent another country's point of view. It has given me new respect for the difficulty of successful diplomacy," added KM Global student Spencer Jastrow.

Ben Shaver, another KM Global student, wrote a resolution establishing a legal framework for water rights. Although ultimately the resolution failed, many of Shaver's key ideas eventually passed. "All around, MUNUC is a great experience," said Shaver. In addition to participation in MUNUC, Shaver will spend this semester diving deeper into the impact and significance of the United Nations today and will organize a one-day conference for interested KM students.

According to the MUNUC website (www.munuc.org), "The Model United Nations experience brings to life the problems that face the real world and allows participants to represent their assigned country's position and work toward resolving issues of global importance." This is the third year that KM has participated in this conference. The group also attended the Organization of American States conference at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in November, and will represent Austria and Syria at the Wisconsin High School Model United Nations conference at UW-Milwaukee in March.

Students interested in learning more about the Model UN should contact Michele Koper, KM Global director, at koperms@kmsd.edu.