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Rice Model UN Conference

October 13-15, 2006 - Rice University, Houston, TX 77005

World Leaders for a Day: Local High School Students Compete In Model United Nations Conference

On October 13th-15th more than 120 high school students from Houston and San Antonio will compete in a Model United Nations Conference on the Rice University campus. Students will assume the roles of ambassadors to the United Nations from 30 countries and discuss issues ranging from clean water to state-sanctioned kidnapping.

“I can’t think of a more important activity for high school students right now,” said Kirti Datla, the Secretary General of the Rice Model United Nations Conference and a junior at Rice University. “By the end of the conference, through their adoption of another country’s views and theories, the students will have gained both an in depth knowledge of current events and effective communication skills. This means these students are actively defying the stereotype many abroad have of uninformed Americans.”

Model United Nations is an activity in which students are assigned a country to represent within a committee of the United Nations. To prepare for the conference, students research their country’s history in detail. Once they understand their country’s background and unique perspective on both international and domestic issues, they begin researching the topic their committee is going to address at the conference. At the end of their research process students are able to speak extemporaneously and in detail on their country’s outlook.

When the conference begins, students eager to debate and negotiate file in and take their seats, all looking to reach a solution beneficial to their country and the world as a whole. Students give up their weekend to learn invaluable communication skills from one another, and gain some personal insight into international relations. By the conclusion of the conference, each committee produces a resolution on the topic they are charged with addressing. The resolutions are as in-depth as those produced by the United Nations and genuinely reflect the level of debate and consensus reached by the committee.

For More Information:

Conference Website: http://ricemodelun.googlepages.com. The website contains the list of schools attending, committees at the conference, and topics which will be addressed.

Rice Model United Nations
Rice Model United Nations was founded in October 2005 to increase awareness of international affairs on the Rice campus and among Houston high school students.