Tolland Middle School Students Participate in Mock UN

In March, 10 students from Tolland Middle School participated in the Middle School Model UN Conference at Kingswood-Oxford School. Known as KOMUN, this conference is the first of its kind in the greater Hartford area.

Superintendent William Guzman said that many of the schools that participated had previously needed to bring their clubs to Massachusetts and Rhode Island in order to participate in a conference.

At KOMUN, there were over 100 students representing 14 schools in the area.
Guzman said that Tolland parent Andrea Spak, who’s son, Charles Perosino, was a school champion in the TMS Geography Bee, inspired Tolland’s participation.

“At Ms. Spak’s request, Dr. (Walter) Willett and I reviewed the materials about KOMUN and sought interest from students at TMS,” Guzman said. “Originally, 24 students showed interest with 13 making a commitment to participate.”

Guzman said that each student paid $25 to participate to cover the fees provided by Kingswood-Oxford.

He met with the group for two days after school to provide background and prepare the students for the conference.

The student participants were eighth graders Perosino, Griffin Powell, and Ryan Carnemolla, seventh grader Marlee Takes, and sixth graders Jack Powell, Anna Roberts, Teagan Connelly, Nick Bidorini, Matt Pasini, and Lucas Papadopoulos.

Guzman said that three other students - sixth graders Jaden DelGobbo, Alan Mermelshteyn, and Madalyn Reagan - attended the preparation sessions, but were not able to attend the conference itself.

Two students, Perosino and Griffin Powell, won awards as Honorable Delegates for their work and leadership.

According to Guzman, the students from Tolland represented the countries of Mongolia, Somalia, South Africa, and Greece in one of the three different committees - one dealing with water shortages in Africa and other parts of the world, one dealing with controlling the proliferation of small arms throughout the world, and one dealing with the rights of women in countries that still do not recognize women as equals to men.

Each committee successfully passed resolutions to address the problems presented.

Guzman said that Kingswood-Oxford plans on holding the conference again next year, and all the returning TMS students indicated that they would be interested in participating again.