Model United Nations - Syrian Refugee Crisis
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Students gained valuable perspective, representing countries as UN delegates, discussing the complexities behind the Syrian refugee crisis and proposing solutions as to how host countries can be better served, developing minimum standards of refugee camps, and integrating refugees into host countries.
Students researched the issues and their assigned countries in great detail, producing country backgrounds and positions paper. Students participated in a conference, defending their country's standpoint, and negotiating with fellow delegates to propose solutions. |
Project GuidelinesMUN study guide, containing background on the UN, UNHCR, the refugee crisis, and guiding questions.
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Position PaperThe purpose of the Position Policy Paper is to inform the global community of your country's position and policies on the issue. You are trying to convince the world to agree with your country's position and recommendations for action.
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MUN ConferenceSelected videos on YouTube, from our MUN Conference at USD.
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Student Work & Reflections
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Isabel Murillo - DP
This project was a really good project. It made us realize how grateful we are to be in America, and we should all be grateful for everything we have. The MUN was also nicely done, there were several discussions on how we can help out. Something I wish I did better, was speak up in the MUN. I did a really well job in researching all the information and working with countries like mine, such as Lebanon and Turkey which they also helped out refugees. I was very prepared for the MUN, but I didn't show that. I didn't talk as much as I wanted too and I overall could've done better in sharing my ideas out. That is something I am trying to work on in my confidence and the MUN made me realize how much I need to work on. Overall I did a really good job and collaborating and researching all the information I needed for the MUN. Also it made me realize how truly grateful I am to have the life I have. |
Sammie Harmer - DP
I think that overall the most useful skill I learned for this project was organization and lay out. At first when I did research I would put everything in a Doc, without really sorting it or labeling anything. Half way through the project I realized that I was wasting time researching things that I already had, I just didn't remember were I put them. Towards the end of the project my aunt who debated throughout high school and college helped me organize everything. This was really helpful, because I didn't have to spend extra time after researching or looking for facts that I already had. I also believe that my responsibility grew, because if at times I chose to socialize instead of work I knew that I would have to do more work at home so I could be prepared for the debate. I am really proud of myself for winning the Gravel and becoming the top debater. I tried really hard to not only know about my country, but others as well and I think my collaboration skills benefited from this. I was able to talk to all kinds of people to come to an overall solution that I spent a lot of time thinking about. |
Annika Constantino - DP
This was probably one of my favorite projects of this year. The most enjoyable part was the actual day of the MUN conference. It was a lot of work and digging for research for the project, it's probably what made it so stressful at first. I didn't have much knowledge on Turkey or the MUN or immigrants, so it was so many new things coming to me at once. But soon after really deep research like reading articles, talking to people, etc, it really got me to understand. I really took the project seriously and I think that helped in creating a solution, for it is a real life problem that I believed could be fixed and should be fixed. Of course we couldn't really do anything but it was the idea of helping people with ideas that got me fixed. I really connected with my country, Turkey. Having no previous knowledge, I didn't know what to expect. But I really got to know Turkey by heart and found all the information and facts about it. Now when I see Turkey on the news or on headlines I think, wow it's my country. Even though it was just a project I still feel involved when something comes up about Turkey, since I know so much about it and I had tried to make a realistic solution to a problem it was involved. I feel that I have learned the most in this project, about many different things, and I will forever remember the day of the conference. I thought that everyone did well and that everyone seemed more engaged than usual. The whole idea of it was exciting and scary at the same time, it felt good when everyone was starting to work together. It is probably the only project where you are on your own. At least it's up until that day, then everyone gets to put their minds together to find a solution. I think it was a successful project.
This was probably one of my favorite projects of this year. The most enjoyable part was the actual day of the MUN conference. It was a lot of work and digging for research for the project, it's probably what made it so stressful at first. I didn't have much knowledge on Turkey or the MUN or immigrants, so it was so many new things coming to me at once. But soon after really deep research like reading articles, talking to people, etc, it really got me to understand. I really took the project seriously and I think that helped in creating a solution, for it is a real life problem that I believed could be fixed and should be fixed. Of course we couldn't really do anything but it was the idea of helping people with ideas that got me fixed. I really connected with my country, Turkey. Having no previous knowledge, I didn't know what to expect. But I really got to know Turkey by heart and found all the information and facts about it. Now when I see Turkey on the news or on headlines I think, wow it's my country. Even though it was just a project I still feel involved when something comes up about Turkey, since I know so much about it and I had tried to make a realistic solution to a problem it was involved. I feel that I have learned the most in this project, about many different things, and I will forever remember the day of the conference. I thought that everyone did well and that everyone seemed more engaged than usual. The whole idea of it was exciting and scary at the same time, it felt good when everyone was starting to work together. It is probably the only project where you are on your own. At least it's up until that day, then everyone gets to put their minds together to find a solution. I think it was a successful project.