ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – This is the golden anniversary for Winthrop University’s Model United Nations program, and organizers have planned plenty of ways to celebrate the prestigious program.
High school students from 30 schools in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia representing 70 United Nations Member States will attend the conference from March 25-27.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Back to the Future: Studying Our Past to Secure Our Future.” The program continues to attract new high schools, including the American Leadership Academy, Cox Mill, Easley, Goose Creek, Heathwood Hall and Lakeside high schools. Local schools, including Rock Hill, Northwestern, South Pointe, the Clover 9th Grade Campus and Lewisville, also plan to be in the mix.
This year's keynote speaker is United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) Youth Observer, Jarrett James Lash. He was appointed last year as the 14th Youth Observer of the United Nations to speak for a program that started in 2012 to increase youth engagement in global affairs. Lash will speak at Winthrop to the high school and college students about what they can do to help achieve the vision and mission of the United Nations.
He also will focus on how young people are having an impact around our world, a perfect focus for Winthrop’s 50-year celebration as the program was the first of its kind in the country to combine participation of college students with high school students.
The schedule for this 50th Anniversary Conference includes:
*March 25:
-College delegates will hold the first General Assembly Plenary that evening in the renovated Byrnes Auditorium for the first time, and Lash will deliver the keynote address.
*March 26:
-High school delegates assigned to different committees will be stationed around campus,
including in the historic Tillman Auditorium. They will represent their assigned UN
Member State and will debate and amend the best resolutions which they all wrote and
submitted themselves.
The standing committees of Winthrop’s program are the Legal Committee, Political and
Security Committee, Social and Humanitarian Committee, and Security Council. With
this year being both the 50th Anniversary of WUMUN and the 80th Anniversary of the
United Nations General Assembly, the conference will devote two special committees
to the historical time periods which started it all. For the first time, Winthrop’s
program will host two Historical Security Councils (HSC), HSC 1946 and HSC 1976. There
will also be a third special committee – the Human Rights Council – to encapsulate
a key purpose of the United Nations, cited in its charter: to reaffirm the faith in
and uphold fundamental human rights.
-The Model UN Luncheon for 500 high school students, advisors and Winthrop collegiate
delegates and committee chairs will take place in McBryde Hall where a UNA-USA staff
person will speak. The luncheon is made possible in part by Model UN sponsorships
from Model UN alumni, friends and family.
*March 27:
-Students will come together at the end of the conference for a General Assembly Plenary to talk about resolutions that have been amended and passed in committees and to learn what high schools won individual delegate and group delegation awards.
Model UN Leadership Team
This year’s Secretariat is led by a three-member team. The Secretary General, Ollie Whitfield, is a senior political science major with a concentration in pre-law minoring in legal studies and peace and conflict resolution studies. The Director General, Taylor Noble, is a senior political science major minoring in legal studies. The Coordinator General, Benjamin Byrd, is a senior political science major with a minor in marketing. The three have organized the conference, contacted the high schools, and planned the logistics for the three-day event, as well as coordinated Winthrop Secretariat members’ participation in the conference as committee chairs.
The program is directed by Jennifer Leigh Disney, professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, Religion & Legal Studies.
Proud History
Since the start of the program, more than 4,500 Winthrop students and 15,000 high school students have participated in the Model UN conferences.
The Model UN program is unique in that it was the first program of its kind to combine participation of college students with high school students. The Winthrop students, who enroll in the PLSC 260: United Nations course, are each assigned a UN Member State. Throughout the spring semester, the college students research and debate issues commonly discussed in the General Assembly of the United Nations, culminating in a public debate the opening night of the three-day conference.
The Model UN program consists of a suite of college classes, including preparation and training to participate in the Model UN conference (PLSC 260), an award-winning collegiate travel team (PLSC 362), and leadership opportunities to assist with running the conference for area high schools (PLSC 261).
Celebratory Reception
A special 50th anniversary reception is planned from 7 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, in the Evans Room in the DiGiorgio Campus Center to recognize the program’s success and to endow a scholarship in the name of 24-year director Chris Van Aller, a political science emeritus professor.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or longshawj@winthrop.edu.
