Riverwood Model UN Team Wins Awards

From RICS: The Riverwood International Charter School (RICS) Model UN team competed in the 2017 Georgia Tech Model United Nations (GTMUN) Conference in October. This year’s conference brought dozens of metro schools together for the competition representing 72 countries. The eleven RICS students modeled the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and the Republic of Portugal.

Samantha Johnson (class of 2019) won the Best Delegate award, the highest honor in the committee, for her work representing the Lusa News Agency of Portugal.

Jacob Vayle (class of 2018), won Honorable Delegate for his model of Portugal within the NATO Committee. This was a crisis committee that had to deal with unannounced international incidents developed by Georgia Tech students. The alliance faced Russian interference in the Catalonian independence movement and a division within NATO as Latvia and Estonia inched toward war over a border dispute.

The two-day conference addressed issues such as NATO’s relations with Russia, bioterrorism, and gender equity in government. The conference included a Press Corps which tasked students to cover the conference as if they represented a particular nation’s news agency. The students wrote articles, produced videos, and interviewed delegates to provide up to date coverage.

Faculty Advisor Joshua Williams said, “I myself am interested in international affairs and global issues. So it’s a club I’m interested in rather than just work. Having a passionate teacher makes it interesting for the students as well.” Thanks to a generous grant by the RICS PTSA, Williams was able to travel with the students to the conference. Williams teaches AP US History, Economics, and International Affairs and has been at Riverwood for nine years.

Photos courtesy of Riverwood International Charter School