ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA — Thirty high schools will participate in the March 20-22 Model United Nations program at Winthrop University, the highest number the program has seen within the last decade. This year’s theme is “Economic Empowerment of the Systemically Disadvantaged.”
Since the start of the program, more than 2,000 Winthrop students and 10,000 high school students have participated in these conferences.
The Model United Nations' participants will come together for the 43rd annual conference at Winthrop to represent 65 countries during committee meetings and general session debates.
The keynote speaker for the conference is Fiona McGuinty, competition law officer at Canada’s Competition Bureau. She helps the bureau foster strong relationships with key international partners through the development of cooperation instruments and the negotiation of competition chapters in Canada’s free trade agreements as part of the International Affairs Directorate.
This year’s Secretariat is under the student leadership of Tabytha Beu, secretary general; Daniel Johnson, director general; and Jordon Buschman, coordinator general. The three work to organize the conference, contact the high schools and work on logistics for the three-day event, as well as coordinate Winthrop students’ participation in the conference.
The Winthrop Model U.N. is unique in that it was the first program of its kind to combine participation of college students with high school students. The Winthrop students, who enroll in the United Nations course, are each assigned a country. Throughout the spring semester, the college students study and debate issues commonly discussed in the assemblies of the United Nations.
During the three-day conference, these college students act as delegates to the nation they represent, debating a resolution on Wednesday night and assisting the high school delegates of the same nation as they debate resolutions in committees and plenary sessions throughout the conference.
Here is the Model U.N. schedule:
March 20: Afternoon registration for high school participants and opening ceremony, as well as first plenary debate.
March 21: High school students will spend the day in committee sessions debating resolutions that have been previously submitted to the secretary general and the two student coordinators. This year’s special committee is Asia Cooperation Dialogue, and also features a bonus committee of the Commission on the Status of Women. The keynote luncheon address by McGuinty will be held at noon in McBryde Hall.
March 22: Final committee meetings and closing ceremony.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or longshawj@winthrop.edu.
