Jess Anderson
Staff Writer
Foran’s own Model United Nations class and club is embarking to their first conference on Friday November 2, 2018 at Fairfield University. Students can join the Model UN class during their junior year of high school, or sign up for the club any year they want. Both the class and club is taught by Foran teacher, Mrs. Bethany Gilman who has led the class course for 4 years and the club for 3. “It’s a great opportunity to state a position that gets you out of your comfort zones, and allows you to defend a topic that broadens the horizon,” says Gilman.
The one day Fairfield conference gathers students in the class/ and or club from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey including both private and public school systems. Each student had a registration fee of $45 to pay for lunch and transportation. Before the conference, students are assigned to choose their top choices for what committees they want to debate. Usually students will also be assigned a position, a political figure, or even a country to hold a stand to.
The conference consists of meetings discussing the variety of topics with other students from an array of schools. Senior member of the class and club, Sofia Nazeer had said, “This conference is the first of the season so it’s really exciting to prep and see students I had met last year.” Should I join the club or class? Sofia had also stated, “Both joining either the club and the class has opened up my perspective on a lot of different topics that we discuss and it’s interesting to learn about international relations and pursuing my interest in debate.” After the all day event, selected students from each committee session are honored with awards to recognize their success and participating role when debating. All grades are welcomed to join including freshman, Elizabeth Dong. She claims, “I was glad to be able to have the opportunity to join the club and meet new people including debating topics that other classes don’t get to touch upon.” Freshman are allowed the chance to attend this Fairfield Conference and get their first look into the world of Model UN.
