Ottoson Student wins award, 8 others from OMS part of Model UN

On Saturday, December 2nd, 17 students representing the Arlington Regional Model United Nations Clubs (ARMUN) arrived at the Northeastern University Campus at 8:20 in the morning for a full day of debate and negotiation at the 2017 Middle School Model UN Conference sponsored by the United Nations Association of Greater Boston. Among them were 9 Ottoson students, and 1 Arlington homeschooled student. These students included, from Ottoson: Maya Krishnan, 8th grade, who represented France in the UNICEF II Committee which debated the issue of Child Refugees; Anya Sharif, 8th grade, Nolan McDonnell, 8th grade, and Erica Yasuhara, 6th grade, who represented Greece in the UNICEF III Committee, which was also debating about Child Refugees; Juliette Ortiz and Henar Maillo, 8th grade, who represented Germany in the UNICEF I Committee debating the issue of Child Refugees; Alisha Gandhi, 7th grade, and Finn McKenna, 6th grade, who represented France in the WHO Committee which debated the issues surrounding access to Clean Water; and Seth Jones, 7th grade, who represented Germany in the United Nations Security Council which debated Nuclear Disarmament. Additionally, Arlington 8th grader Enoch Bennett, who is homeschooled, represented France on the Food and Agriculture Committee debating Food Security issues, and Arlington high school student, Charlotte Kilroy, who is also homeschooled, and is a member of the ARMUN High School Club, attended the conference as a Jr. Advisor and assisted with the younger students and management of the logistics of the event.

All of the students were active participants and involved in the leadership of the resolution writing and debating process in their committees, which was the culmination of several months of preparation including researching their topic and their country position on their topic, writing a research-based position paper that had to be turned into the conference leadership about 3 weeks prior to the conference, and learning and practicing the rules of debate and public speaking and debating skills as well as the format and process for writing resolutions and getting them introduced and passed in a Model UN Committee.

8th grade student Maya Krishnan, who is the ARMUN Middle School Club's current student leader, especially stood out at this conference and won recognition, along with her partner, Andrew Harrington, a homeschooled student from Needham, as the "Best Negotiators" in their committee.

Maya and Andrew will be going to the DIMUN Invitational Conference this coming Saturday, Dec. 9th, which is a conference that award winners from the conference last week are invited to. ARMUN was also granted spots for several of our club leaders to attend the DIMUN Invitational Conference, and 8th graders Anya Sharif and Nolan McDonnell will also attend this special conference in recognition of the leadership and enthusiasm they have shown in the club this fall.

Next up for the club, 6 8th graders and 6 high school students are attending the Yale Model UN Conference January 18 - 21, 2018. Then in mid-February many of the students will be attending the Artic Crisis Conference put on by UNAGB and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. After that there is about one conference a month through the end of May for the middle school students, and they will also be working on a legislative initiative, they completed a major community service project on Sunday and will participate in at least two more before June, and they will engage in one or two advocacy actions as well. So the club will be very active this winter and spring.

If you want more information about the club or its activities, email Club Director Kim Holt at kimkayholt@gmail.com, or see our webpage at www.arlingtonregionalmun.weebl...