Harvey School Students Tackle World Problems at Model UN

Jake Warshaw, an 18-year-old student from Bedford, got to travel back in time to the French Revolution, where he was charged with solving food shortages and how to punish traitors. 

As members of The Harvey School Model United Nations Club, Warshaw and 15 other students spent hours after school preparing for the Model UN sessions held in January at Columbia University.

The Harvey School will travel to Washington, D.C., later this month to compete in the North Atlantic Invitational Model UN at Georgetown University. They will be among 2,800 high school students from independent and public schools around the country participating in the sessions.

Mitch Bowman of Rye, another member of the Harvey delegation, received Honorable Mention at the Columbia University sessions for his performance as a member of the Indian Council in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857.

 "Most of the situations we prepare for take place in the present, but there also are those that go back in history. Regardless, all of them take place in real time. The biggest challenge is to stay focused throughout," said Warshaw, the Harvey team captain.  

Phil Lazzaro, the coach of the Harvey team since 1994, said the Model UN experience is invaluable.

 "It educates participants about civics, current events, effective communication, and diplomacy, and develops their public speaking skills," Lazzaro said. "Our kids are taught to research thoroughly the country and issues they are assigned to represent, then debate, deliberate, consult, and develop solutions to world problems. They also must cope with sudden crises and find ways to resolve them. This is one of the best lessons in thinking on your feet I know."

The Model UN program began on college campuses in the 1950s, and more than 90,000 students across the country take part in conferences each year.

During the four-hour sessions each day, two judges rate students on how well they understood and represented their assigned topic, how relevant their resolutions were, and their persuasiveness. 

For the sessions at Georgetown, students will take on the Iran-Iraq War, the bloody eight-year conflict that began in 1980.

"The kids are really smart and prepared, so there's lots of competition," Warshaw said.