Congratulations to Lansing High School Students Who Competed in 57th Annual Topeka Model United Nations
The 57th Annual Topeka Model United Nations Conference was held virtually this year from February 22-26, 2021 with one to two councils working each day. The number of students competing in this year's event dropped significantly (from approximately 600 down to 200) due to the event being virtual.
Lansing High School students Conor Lessard, Christopher LaPee, Geoffrey Stentiford, Anthony Krebs, Mia Mosher, and Jack Corrigan started preparing for the event in September under the direction of sponsor and Advanced Studies teacher, Mrs. Julie Hinckley. Their first task was to select a country and delegation they would be representing. Lansing represented the countries of Dominican Republic, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Tunisia, and Niger. LHS Junior, Julia Nauman, served as Secretary in two councils - World Council C & World Council IV.
The students spent the first part of the year researching the United Nations and their scope of power. They then researched and gained an understanding of their selected country's stance on various topics. They took what they learned from their research to write a Position Paper that was submitted to Topeka in December. The Position Paper was to reflect each country's general policy toward established resolution topics.
Each student also had to write a Resolution for their particular country. According to the Topeka Model United Nations website, "The Model United Nations Resolution is a proposal by one or more nations which attempts to solve a world problem." The Resolutions were due in January and reviewed by a Topeka Model United Nations Resolution Committee. The committee then selected the most relevant Resolutions to be debated during the virtual competition. All students attending the event also had to research and gain an understanding of parliamentary procedure before going to Topeka.
Awards were limited this year, but Geoffrey won Best Authorship Speech and Christopher won Best Country Position Paper for their respective councils.
"This was such an unusual way to hold the conference, but the students did an excellent job following procedures and figuring out the best ways to give their speeches and debate resolutions," said MUN sponsor, Mrs. Julie Hinckley. "We won awards, had resolutions pass, and I'm particularly proud of Julia for serving on two different councils."