In April it was my pleasure to produce for Los Alamitos Community Television coverage of a day-long conference on the campus of Los Alamitos High School called Model United Nations 2016 now airing on Los Al TV Channel 3. The event was hosted by the Los Al Griffins student Model UN Club, which simulates the real world challenges, processes, and drama that face the actual United Nations body, compressed into a daylong conference. And although it was an hour long program featuring highlights of the day’s proceedings, I was left with the notion that so much about this remarkable day went unsaid.
First and foremost, I was impressed by the equal measure of professionalism and enthusiasm displayed by virtually all of the student-delegates, nearly 400 strong from over 20 other high school campuses across the Southland converging for this one day conference and focusing on the single issue of the very real refugee crisis that faces Europe and Africa today and the threat of terrorist groups who would infiltrate them. It was clear from the start that these student/delegates, from advanced high school seniors to first time middle school novices, brought with them a remarkable grasp of the facts as they presented their arguments, thoroughly immersing themselves in the political perspective of the particular UN country they were designated to represent. Over the course of the day, from small committee deliberations to full resolution debates, I observed these student/delegates presenting concise and compelling arguments, displaying a command of the issues with a poise and maturity that would seem beyond their years to conjure. Unfortunately, only a fraction of these articulate exchanges between delegations, often from even the younger delegates, was I able to include in the program.
It was equally clear to me that they were just as excited to be there as they were prepared, eager to share their world views and to hear what others had to say. Even at lunch break I overheard many of the committee delegates carry on the debate over their catered in Pollo Loco box lunches, driving home a point on the status of political refugees while waving a chicken leg in the air. It was easy to see these high school kids had found their place in the sun. Their glory moment in which to shine. Not on the football field. Not on the performance stage. But on the debating floor armed only with their wits, their powers of recall, and their sincere devotion to solving the world’s problems.
And their optimism seemed to extend beyond the debating floor. While shouldering the responsibilities of hosting a day-long conference, the Los Al Griffin MUN Club and their boosters also found time and energy to set up a charitable concession to collect funds through refreshment sales to support the very real world need of refugee aid. Through the day they raised over $400, all of which will go to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
All the more impressive is the fact that, unlike many of the other participating high school MUNs competing on this day, Los Al MUN Club is just that, a club, not part of the regular curriculum as is the case at many of the other participating high schools. These Los Al MUNs are made up strictly of students who want to be there, to compete and to represent their school without the added incentive of getting course credit for it. In other words, they are there for the sheer love of the UN process, a thirst for the world and how it works, and what appeared to be a sincere belief that civilized dialogue among peoples can produce results.
Of course there were some stumbles, misstatements, and occasional over the top presentations resulting mostly from an abundance of, shall we say, enthusiasm. Like the senior delegate from another HS who proclaimed MUN “way cooler than that other [debate] club, JSA.”(Junior Statesman of America) But in the main I was deeply impressed and reassured somehow that there were millennial kids out there in this 27 character world who could take that deep dive into the thorny and often murky pool of world politics, think critically, and come up for air with informed and articulate prescriptions and solutions, and do it with smiles on their faces.
Speaking to these budding leaders of tomorrow, one on one when I could, I did get the distinct impression from them the world’s problems actually could be solved with just the right convergence of advocacy and compassion. I in my somewhat more senior years hold a slightly more cynical view, but I held my tongue. Who knows, maybe these sophomores of life are on to something. At any rate my reporter’s hat is off to these young multitalented, multilevel thinkers for even daring to be optimistic. And to our own Los Al Griffin Model United Nations Club, returning from a decade of dormancy, to field a delegation of almost 100 highly motivated LAUSD students to then organize, host and officiate a successful regional MUN conference pretty much on their own- I say long may they run.
John Underwood is a senior producer at Los Al TV. Visit losaltv.org to view Los Al TV programs online.
