IMAGE GALLERY: More Than 90 Global Leaders Visit Mill Pond School

On Friday, June 10, everywhere you turned at , there were influential people: Barak Obama, Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, Desmond Tutu, Mohandas Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Victoria, Albert Einstein, Aug Sun Soi Chi, Yu Kuan Sun, to name a few.

Each of the 91 students on the Mill Pond Hornet Team were assigned roles that they embraced for the entire UN Summit day. They even came dressed as their "characters," representing  42 different countries.

UN Summit Day evolved from what used to be a China Day festival that included roundtables. Now in its sixth year, the day started with a boisterous parade around the school, where the paths were lined with fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students, all cheerfully waving international flags. Parents and siblings joined the fun as well.

At the parade's end, the global dignitaries proceeded into the roundtable area for a video recap of their many weeks of prep work and a human rights short film introduced by Aug Sun Soi Chi. Then the formal roundtable discussions began. There were 15 tables of students, joined by adult facilitators that included teachers, administrators, community members, as well as members of the high school student council and model United Nations. 

They all worked together to create a preamble, operative clause and finally, a resolution statement. Each of the students had a role as well, whether it was facilitator, time keeper, secretary, spokesperson or greeter.

With this year's theme being globalization, discussions centered on human rights, costs and benefits of globalization, education, health care, poverty, developing vs. developed nations, resources/land use, hunger, science, environmental degradation, culture/religion, and economies/trade.

Sixth-grade Hornet Team leader Chris Rogers explained why they chose globalization as this year's theme. "We are constantly talking about how the world is growing smaller, which has both positive and negative elements. We want students to consider how globalization, and the tools and technologies associated with it, can be used in a positive and inclusive way."

Rogers also commented on how the students accepted the challenges presented to them. "The kids have embraced and run with the topic. It was overwhelming at first, but once they saw how it could be used to unify their understanding of a variety of  topics and issues, it seemed a lot less intimidating."

This multidisciplinary project has been in the works for weeks. The UN journey included units in each academic area:

• Science:  Environmental issues projects that included group work and presentation
• Social Studies:  Country research, study of the UN and its functions,  lessons on globalization and contemporary issues
• ELA/Reading:  research, note-taking, biography writing, first-person speech
• Math: design, 2-D & 3-D images, sugar cube building designed to meet their countries' needs

Once the global figures finalized their resolutions, they held a press conference to share their collaborative findings. Spokespeople from the 15 roundtables sat in panel formation and presented their ideas. A Q&A session followed where each representative had a chance to respectfully stand up for their countries' priorities.

The final phase of the UN Summit was a Global Feast that was held in the students' classrooms, transformed into four different regions: Asia, Africa/Middle East, North America/Europe and Latin America. Families contributed an impressive array of 50+ ethnic dishes from all four regions.

Reflecting on the day, Rogers added, "It's amazing how mature and knowledgeable these kids really are. They're not just learning their country's statistics for a test, they're applying their knowledge in a meaningful way."

He went on to say that this is the type of unit/event that they'll remember for a long time, and they will use the skills and knowledge they have gained in future academic situations. 

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