TOPSHAM

More than 470 students across Maine — including a contingent of nine from Mt. Ararat High School — attended the 15th annual Maine Model United Nations Conference earlier this month on the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus.

The students transformed into delegates and attended the conference as part of a new course offered at Mt. Ararat, taking part in the three-day Model United Nations conference to gain an understanding of international relations and the UN. They also learn to research multilateral issues, acquire negotiation skills, develop public speaking and debating skills, and engage in consensus-building.

The students who took the course, offered for the first time this year and taught by Dianne Boucher, recently reflected on their experience at the conference. Sitting with their global educator Tom Bahun who had worked with them since February, they reviewed what they liked and didn’t like. Renee Rossignol said she felt there were too many delegates and Jason Black said he didn’t like it when delegates motioned for unmoderated conference. Students also said there was also sometimes excessive note passing.

Sam Kebbie is an exchange student from Sierra Leone and initially wanted to represent his own country at the MeMUN, but instead represented Greece and served on the General Assembly. He and his fellow students — who also represented Chile, Fiji and Sierra Leone — had to research these countries, their positions on various issues and the duties of committees they were assigned to.

Rossignol, who was honored as a designated delegate, served on the Human Rights Council. Chile was represented by Black, on the Special Session on Sports, Sara Gatchell, on the Security Council, and Morgan Jacobs, on the General Assembly. Representing Fiji were Morgan Benjamin, on the World Meteorological Organization, and Kim Lamothe, on the General Assembly. Samantha Hamilton was a judge for the International Criminal Court.

Kebbie said, for him, “everything was very educational,” though he was very frustrated the first day. The second day went better, he said, “because I had the chance to work with other people and express a feeling about a country.” A good program, he also noted that people go off topic and that it would be good for students to understand how the U.N. works.

That is why high schools have global educators to work with them, Bahun said, but some didn’t want them.

“These frustrations you guys have is because you were more prepped than other people,” Bahun said.

“I kind of realized that the actual U.N. is facing a very huge problem,” and given delegates from some countries talked about child labor, a lack of secondary education and poverty he questioned if they can be solved by the U.N.

Benjamin said she learned how to work with people with other view points and Lamothe gained respect for the different countries and their values. Kebbie learned new vocabulary as well as how to do advanced research.

“I learned that it’s really hard to appeal to everybody,” Black said, adding a delegate will never get everyone on the same side.

Bahun said the goal of MeMUN is to educate students in Maine schools that don’t have international and global avenues. Many of the frustrations students raised are experienced by the real U.N., he said.

The course allows students to discover that the rest of the world is not like the U.S. For example, Boucher noted that when Rossignol asked Kebbie what Sierra Leone’s position on LGBT issues, he explained it wouldn’t be an issue as everyone in his country are Muslim or Christian, religions that make their stance on the issues clear.

A senior at USM, Bahun, 21 and from Gorham, is double majoring in history and political science with an international focus. He never expected to be teaching in schools but has liked that aspect of the global educators class he’s taking. He found the students to be blank slates regarding the U.N. and global issues in general. Eventually he wants to work on the international scene, perhaps for a non-governmental organization.

“I’ve always wanted to make an impact on the world,” and while he never thought impacting students could do that, “this experience has made me aware of that, that it is a big deal. This generation and my generation even is the generation that is going to have the largest impact on the international community with the globalization happening, with all the problems we have, and so I kind of enjoy being a part of that.”

Often when he and classmates talk about domestic politics, Bahun said they refer to them as first world problems. He feels the international scene is where the major problems are and where people should be focusing. The global educators discuss these international issues with students and make them aware of them. That awareness, he said, “becomes the biggest advantage to solving these problems.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com