High school students visit Pitt, try to solve world issues

Nearly 420 students from 26 area high schools descended upon the William Pitt Union Tuesday… Nearly 420 students from 26 area high schools descended upon the William Pitt Union Tuesday afternoon to participate in the 10th annual Model United Nations competition.

“They get smacked in the face with things, and they need that,” Ruth E. Blose said.

Blose, a Spanish and French teacher at Avella High School in Washington County, brought her students to the event to increase their awareness of international affairs.

The competition, sponsored by the University Center for International Studies, Pitt’s Model U.N. Club, Citizens for Global Solutions Pittsburgh and the United Nations Association, was open to students in grades nine through 12. After a screening of “Invisible Children,” a film about child soldiers in Africa, students were broken into their delegations and committees.

The delegations, each representing a specific country, consisted of six to 12 students and were divided among the committees of the Organization of American States, the League of Arab States, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Security Council, Disarmament and International Security and, for novices, the Human Rights Council.

Students debated issues pertaining to their council using standard parliamentary procedure and drafted legislation to arrive at peaceful conclusions to global problems such as the crisis in Darfur and the reform of the U.N. Security Council.

“We do mock trial, we do debate, but our debate topics aren’t nearly as international in scope,” Blose said, whose school’s sole delegation represented Argentina. “This is my fifth or sixth year bringing students to this event. When I started we were the only school in Washington County participating, but it’s pulling in more and more schools from rural areas, beyond the suburbs.”

“If you think the insulation is bad here in the suburbs, come to where we are,” she said. “The big debate [there] is over whether there should be a Wal-Mart in Greene County.”

Students said, however, that they enjoyed debating about larger world issues.

“I like to debate, I like bartering and arguing with people, I like to feel like I could some day have an effect on the world,” said Karen Gardner, a junior at Fox Chapel High School who is representing the country of Lebanon.

Amanda Jacobson, also a Fox Chapel student, said she enjoyed the cooperative and competitive aspects of the day.

“You’re working as an individual, but you’re a part of a team. You’re trying to be the best over all the different committees and rooms,” Jacobson said.

“It makes you keep up with the news and international affairs,” Fox Chapel sophomore Emily Feenstra said.

Fox Chapel students also represented Korea and Peru.

“We need to get our Southwestern Pennsylvania children out of their beds. The kids I brought are the best and the brightest, and yet they have no idea [about international politics]. This is a real consciousness raising experience,” Blose added.

“This is the world in which our students are going to live,” she said.