Students debate world issues

The Blair Model United Nations (UN) Club held its first conference ever from Jan 31 to Feb 2. As the only high school-sponsored conference in Montgomery County, the symposium aimed to increase awareness of current events and to raise funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Model UN is a simulation-based investigation into international events. Conferences feature a number of students from various schools, or delegations, who represent a given country's stance within a given committee, such as the UN Security Council.

The conference, dubbed the Blair Area Symposium for Model UN (BASMUN, was run entirely by Blair students, who prepared briefs on all topics to assist delegates from other high schools and awarded delegates based on presentation ability, preparedness and accuracy.
The conference was supported by various international organizations affiliated with the UN.

Opening ceremony speakers included Anthony Hogan, president of Model UN International; Edward Elmendorf, current member of African development committee of the World Bank; and Susan Rao, chair of the International Relations Committee of the D.C. League of Women's Voters.
Speakers discussed the importance of avoiding an isolationist view of world events considering the dynamic nature of current world politics.

The money raised by BASMUN was donated via the United Nations Foundation to the Global Fund as part of a pledge from D.C. Area Public Schools.

Most conferences are university-based and cost several hundred dollars. BASMUN was designed as a low-cost, logistically feasible alternative to traditional university-based conferences.

Co-secretary general Sherin Rouhani, a Blair senior, promised a BASMUN next year, stating that, "The enthusiastic responses we have received from conference attendees has convinced us there is a market for future conferences of this nature."

Dale Whitesell, sponsor of the McLean High School Model UN Club, called the conference "an incredible learning experience, both for delegates and sponsors."