ONU Hosts Annual High School Model UN

The Department of History and Politics hosted the ONU High School Model United Nations Competition on Saturday, October 13, 2012. The competition drew 111 students from 10 high schools in Ohio, who represented 37 states in the simulation. This competition provides students with the opportunity to learn about international affairs in a fun and interactive setting. The delegates worked in three person teams to represent the interests of a pre-selected member state. Each member of the team was assigned to a specific committee during the morning session.  During these committee sessions, students engaged in lively debate and worked together to draft resolutions aimed at resolving the issues assigned to each committee. The First Committee worked to reduce the impact of the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in Africa. The Second Committee discussed the threat of transnational organized crime, and offered solutions to this pressing global concern. The Third Committee tackled the problem of children in armed conflict and drafted resolutions aimed at protecting children in conflict areas from becoming targets of violence and from being recruited to be active participants in armed conflict. During the afternoon session, the teams reassembled and voted on resolutions drafted during the committee sessions. The committees were chaired by ONU students Victoria Army, Franklin Howard, and James Lee. Faculty members from the Department of History and Politics, as well as from the Department of Modern Languages evaluated the students and served as judges for the competition. Delegates were welcomed to ONU by Director of Admissions Deborah Miller and Department of History and Politics Chair Robert Alexander.

Individual awards were given to the top scoring delegate in each of the committee sessions. Taking home individual honors were: Committee #1 – Bowling Green High School representing China, Committee #2 – Bowling Green High School representing China, Committee #3 – Clay High School representing Belgium.

Team awards were also given to the top scoring delegations. Keystone High School, representing Russia won the Distinguished Delegation Award. Clay High School representing Belgium, Bowling Green High School representing China and Tippecanoe High School representing France all won Outstanding Delegation Awards. Honorable Mention Awards went to Bowling Green High School representing Germany, Brazil and Iran, as well as Clay High School representing Sweden and Maumee High School representing South Africa.