The seventh and eighth grade class of Edgecomb’s Center for Teaching and Learning spent three days at the University of Southern Maine, as participants in Maine’s Model United Nations Conference (MeMUNC). The students researched and represented the countries of Argentina, Belarus, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, France, Israel, Madagascar, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sudan and the United Kingdom.

Most students served in the second-ever Middle School General Assembly with the exception of one student, participating for the second year, who represented Spain on the UN Environmental Program, a high school committee.

CTL students started preparing for MeMUNC in February, as part of the school’s current events program. They worked with their history teacher, Anne Atwell-McLeod. The seventh and eighth learned UN rules of procedure, practiced debating and negotiating, conducted research about their assigned countries, and prepared position papers about their countries’ stances on a range of issues, including girls’ education, animal rights, and resource management.

Of the approximately 600 students in attendance at MeMUNC, most of them high-schoolers, about two dozen received awards at the closing ceremonies — including four CTL students. As a delegate on his high school committee, Ridgely Kelly received a Distinguished Delegate Award. On the Middle School General Assembly, Sydney Sullivan and Nicco Bartone won Distinguished Delegate Awards, and Lucas Steinberger received the committee’s top honor, the Diplomacy Award. 

This is the fourth year CTL students have participated in MeMUNC; the school’s seventh and eighth graders were the first-ever middle school students to take part in the conference, now in its seventeenth year. The students were thrilled to participate in this invaluable opportunity to act as global citizens, hone their debate and negotiation skills, and gain insight into what it takes to achieve consensus, make progress, and drive political and social change.

For more information on the Center for Teaching and Learning, visit www.c-t-l.org.