School blazers, diplomatic ties

Chechynian independence, HIV and AIDS epidemics, Darfur, Russia-NATO relations, the Israel-Palestine conflict: Topics one might expect to hear in the halls of the United Nations building in New York.

But discussion on these and other controversial global issues are also heard in the halls of Edison High School, where students involved in the Model United Nations program research, debate and discuss solutions to these issues in a forum modeled after the U.N.

“It really teaches kids how to do college-level research,” said Ken Amman, who was the advisor of Edison’s Model U.N. program for 25 years before he retired in June.

The program is intertwined with honors history and geography classes, and the students meet daily to discuss issues faced by nations around the world. The students debate as representatives of countries and must present the issue as their country sees it in the real world. Periodically, the students are involved in conferences with other schools from around the country and the world.

“Each kid was responsible for putting together a research packet: Documents from the U.N. and the Internet that they use to come to a conclusion of what their country’s police is,” said Brendan Patch, who is the current program teacher. “If they have a small country and there isn’t a lot of information, they have to finesse what they found to figure out what the policy might be.”

Some 25 of Edison’s top Model U.N. students recently traveled to Holland for an international conference, where the teenagers participated in three days of debates about real-world subjects and argued for solutions based on their assigned countries’ position.

“Each of the students were given a country they needed to research and represent on a specific topic and, once they got there, they got into their committees and did lobbying,” said Cathy Meschuk, a parent who traveled with the group. “The first day was doing the lobbying and the second day they really got into working on resolutions.”

In addition to acting as a young United Nations, the students were also able to travel to the Czech Republic and Germany.

“We went to Anne Frank’s house [in Amsterdam], which was so amazing,” said senior student An Pham.

An, who represented France on social, humanitarian and cultural youth issues, said one of her favorite parts of the experience was meeting her international peers.

“It was an eye-opener,” she said. “You meet some of the most amazing people and get a better aspect of the global community.”

Social issues, like child labor and women’s rights, are close to An’s heart. She said being in the program has made her more aware of the world around her. Recently she saw a brief story about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, on MTV and decided she wanted to help.

“I am really concerned with human rights issues and I take it outside of [the program],” said An, 18, who was wearing a T-shirt with “Stop Genocide in Sudan” on it. “I’m doing a fundraiser for Darfur.”

An is selling these T-shirts for $15 to her peers to try to raise awareness on campus. Half of the proceeds go to the manufacturing of the shirt and the other half goes to help stop the killing in the war-torn country. Violence in Darfur has claimed more than 180,000 lives since 2003 and displaced more than 2 million people, according to the Associated Press.

On Tuesday, the students in the class spent their time in three separate rooms with three teachers. In one class the students received letters back from new pen-pals from Tanzania, to whom they recently wrote. In another, they studied for an upcoming geography test and, in the third, which was led by senior student Alex Stack, they researched for an upcoming conference at Huntington Beach High School.

Patch and Amman said the program gears up kids for life after Edison because they build confidence through public speaking.

“It’s amazing to have them know what’s going on in the world,” Patch said. “These are the people that are going to fill important positions in the future.”hbi.20-classroom-1-kt-CPhotoInfoEO1Q3G5220060420ixy591ncKENT TREPTOW / INDEPENDENT(LA)Rebecca Gillenwater, 14, left, and Mackenzie Stack, 15, read a letter from an African pen pal at Edison High School on Tuesday. Edison students are corresponding with kids in Arusha, Tanzania, as part of a United Nations class exercise.