Follow the Child Montessori students experience global connections with Montessori Model United Nations

A group of students from Raleigh’s Follow the Child Montessori School’s Upper Elementary class recently participated in the international Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) conference at the United Nations on April 15-19, in New York City. The Montessori Model UN provides Montessori students from 9-15 years of age an experiential learning opportunity for greater understanding of world issues, global connections and peaceful resolution of conflict, while focusing on the United Nations, the world's largest peacekeeping and humanitarian organization.

During the three-day session, Follow the Child’s (FCM) delegates represented Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and presented and debated their own position papers that they had prepared following weeks of intense classroom and at-home research. Delegates had selected their nation and represented that nation during the lively simulation of actual UN procedures. FCM students, ranging from 9- to 11-years old, worked in pairs for various committees: General Assembly, UN High Commission for Refugees, and the World Health Organization. Students were involved in conducting extensive research, writing resolutions, developing support for their resolutions, learning debate procedures and preparing to represent their nation in council sessions and in front of the MMUN General Assembly.

In addition to the MMUN simulation and global experience, students toured the United Nations as well as met Ambassadors and 500 other Montessori students from Canada, Mexico, Virgin Islands, Haiti and the United States, including California, South Carolina, Virginia, Alaska, Washington and New York. Their concluding General Assembly was held at the United Nations where they used the UN voting board to determine final resolutions.

Follow the Child’s group organized several fundraising efforts to fund their trip to New York, including the sale of earth-friendly household cleaners that they marketed and produced, bottled, and distributed as a class.

The 500 MMUN students collectively raised $4300 toward the building of a school in partnership with Free the Children, the largest children helping children organization in the world.

About Montessori Model United Nations: Each year, thousands of students all over the world engage in the Model United Nations, most of them high school and university students. The Montessori Model UN provides Montessori students from 9-15 years of age an experiential learning opportunity for greater understanding of world issues, global connections and peaceful resolution of conflict, while focusing on the United Nations, the world's largest peace keeping and humanitarian organization. Many Model UN graduates have gone on to important careers in government, world service, law and even the arts. There are at least two World Court judges, a USA Supreme Court judge and even actors that have won the famed “Oscar.” For more information about this leadership program, visit the Web site at: www.montessori-mun.org. For more information about Free the Children, visit: www.freethechildren.com.