Rappouteur

Awards were given to Rebecca Elliotte and Shanda Whitlock.

Earlier in

the academic year, the Model UN team participate in the first competition

of 2002 at Georgia Technical Institute bringing home one of seven delegation

awards from the 50 country delegations represented. In addition, Coffey

was presented with one of the few Outstanding Delegate Awards given at

the conference.

"I am

so proud of the entire team. We have many new and younger students this

year and they are doing a fantastic job. We are currently preparing for

another conference in January and I'm certain our students will perform

well," said Marlene Holland, faculty sponsor of the team.

Model UN is

an academic extra curricular activity open to all high school students.

The goal of the activity is to give students an in-depth look at current

world issues as well as an opportunity to expand their speaking and writing

skills and develop collaborative social skills.

At the Model

UN conference, almost all of the resolution debate, amending and caucusing

is impromptu, making it necessary for students to be able to think fast

on their feet while applying diplomatic communication skills and being

culturally sensitive. Conferences are in-depth, multi-day simulations

of UN committees covering very current international topics ranging from

arms proliferation, human trafficking and the AIDS pandemic to altering

the UN charter, the Palestine issue, children's issues and terrorism.

Students represent

members of an assigned nation delegation and approach all topics from

the perspective of that nation. Writing resolutions utilizing the UN format,

working for compromise and consensus with other nation delegations and

speaking extemporaneously are continuous through the 2-3 day conferences.

To perform

successfully as a delegate at the conference, students must have a broad

range of knowledge of both their nation and topics. Many students on Sandy

Creek's team have taken some of the international studies academic electives

offered at the school which helps them compete strongly against other

high school students.

"When

we go to these competitions students from other schools often ask our

team members how they know so much about other countries and when they

tell them that they took an 18-week course on Africa they just can't believe

it. Not many high schools in Georgia offer these kinds of international

courses," said Holland.

Sandy Creek's

next Model UN conference will take place at the University of Georgia

Jan. 31-Feb. 2. Students are currently preparing for the conference, which

will be attended by one to two full delegations.

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