By Jack Tapay, Director of Curriculums at Raise Your Placard
When Model U.N. delegates leave the confines of their committee rooms, the gravity of the issues they have debated and the importance of the skills they have developed often gets lost on them. Beyond the slip of paper or gavel one may receive at closing ceremonies, conferences allow delegates to learn about geopolitical issues in an engaging and enriching way. In the context of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, Model U.N. becomes an invaluable tool to empower youth and foster values of diplomacy and global citizenship within them.
From the perspective of an active Model U.N. program, it can be easy to lose sight of the socioeconomic barriers inherent in traveling to conferences or preparing for committees. These barriers complicate the relationship between the Sustainable Development Goals and tools like Model U.N., as they create atmospheres of exclusivity counterintuitive to the values of the Goals. Low-income communities and disadvantaged groups are rarely given the light of day within the Model U.N. community, with the costs of attending conferences and the esoteric nature of the activity preventing participation. When these factors foster misrepresentation within the Model U.N. community, they not only conflict with the Goals but also act contrary to them.
Raise Your Placard is a volunteer organization that strives to account for the socioeconomic barriers of Model U.N., upending the tide of exclusion within the activity as best it can. Founded by members of the Bronx Science Model United Nations Team, Raise Your Placard operates throughout New York City to help underserved middle schools build their own Model U.N. programs. With years of experience competing at national Model U.N. conferences, the Raise Your Placard Team is prepared to provide quality training and mentorship to ensure that collaborating middle schools create strong programs.
Throughout the next year, Raise Your Placard will continue to conduct outreach throughout New York City. The organization will work hand-in-hand with its partners to engage participating students in Model U.N. through a streamlined curriculum that combines lessons on Model U.N. strategy with relevant geopolitical issues. The Raise Your Placard Team fervently believes that success in Model U.N. relies on a comprehensive understanding of the pressing issues facing other countries, allowing students to reap the benefits of global awareness and develop a passion for international relations. They hope that by the end of the next academic year, Raise Your Placard would have left its partnered middle schools with their own Model U.N. programs and the next generation of diplomats.
Within the first month of its establishment, Raise Your Placard partnered with local middle school M.S. 101 and laid the groundwork for the next few months. Headed by Ms. Hilda Blair and sponsored by Assistant Principal Ms. Leigh Wishney, the M.S. 101 chapter has begun recruiting students for their newly formed Model U.N. team. “Model United Nations provides middle schoolers from diverse and underserved communities the opportunity to learn about the global community of which they are a part, understand other people’s perspectives and challenges, and experience the power of problem solving and diplomacy.” Ms. Blair says. “Access to a program like this takes student learning outside of the classroom and allows students to apply their skills and knowledge to real-world issues as they engage with other student teams in conferences throughout the year.”
When asked about M.S. 101’s partnership with Raise Your Placard, Ms. Wishney commented on the experience of the Raise Your Placard Team. “We are grateful to partner with an organization of motivated and experienced young people to support the launch of Model UN at M.S. 101. I am most excited to have our students engage with and learn from the students from Raise Your Placard so they can share their personal experiences and knowledge.”
Accessibility within the Model U.N. community still has a long ways to go, but the Raise Your Placard Team hopes to aid that path throughout New York City. With its first chapter in-development and a group of devoted organizers on-hand, the future of Raise Your Placard looks bright as it enters the summer season.
For more information about Raise Your Placard, please visit https://www.raiseyourplacard.org!