(The following article appeared in @Guelph, the University of Guelph faculty/staff newspaper, March 1, 2000.)

Fourth-year international development student, Donna Kollee, recalls the ice-breaker question she asked her new student when she began a tutoring assignment last fall: "Is prison life like what you see on TV?" She laughs as she relates the prompt reply of her student, an inmate at the Guelph Correctional Centre who is working on his high school diploma: "Is university life like what you see on TV?"

In working to narrow the gap between those disparate worlds, Kollee was able to draw not only on the skills she's developed as a peer tutor at U of G, but also on negotiating smarts from seven years spent taking part in model United Nations forums as a high school and university student.

It's also that experience that has led to her selection as one of six Canadian students to attend this year's World Model United Nations (MUN) Conference. The simulated UN gathering organized by Harvard University brings together international students to learn about global issues and negotiations.

She will travel to Greece at the end of March to take part in the five-day event. In Athens, hundreds of university students will debate global issues from anti-terrorism to climate control. Representing Ethiopia, Kollee will attend one of 11 committees charged with negotiating various agreements.

"I love it," she says. "Part of me absolutely loves negotiation."

As a high school student in St. Catharines, Kollee participated for three years in annual MUN conferences involving students throughout the Niagara Peninsula and Hamilton. Simulating UN forums such as the General Assembly and Security Council, with students appointed to represent various countries, these gatherings are intended to help participants learn about global issues and hone their negotiating and debating skills.

The annual events grew out of model town hall meetings organized by Mike Keenan, a Niagara teacher and municipal councilor during the mid-1980s. Those initial gatherings saw students assume the roles of municipal politicians and staff. Making the jump to the world stage, model UN clubs from the area have competed at Harvard and in New York since the late 1980s.

Along with fellow university students, Kollee now helps organize the Niagara-area annual conference and other events under the umbrella of the Council on World Affairs of Canada (COWAC), a non-profit organization based in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

"Donna has exhibited incredible energy, enthusiasm, leadership and volunteerism in assisting our organization for many years to help Canadian students to become more aware of world issues," says COWAC executive officer Mike Keenan. "She is regularly one of the most popular and respected staffers at our MUN conference. She is a natural teacher with outstanding communication skills."

Growing up in Grimsby as the eldest of three girls, Kollee sharpened at least some of those communication and debating skills around the dinner table. Both her parents have always shared their interests in human rights and development with their children. "There is no one in the field, but my family all have strong opinions," she says.

The Guelph student also points to her mother as a role model. Irene, a nurse, returned to university to complete a science degree while her children were still pre-teens.

It was more by accident than design that Donna chose Guelph for studies in international development with an emphasis on political development and administrative change. "I was skipping class in high school and went to a University of Guelph presentation, and I saw that they had international development. That's exactly what I want to do. For a long time, I thought about English or journalism, but I saw this and everything changed."

She says she loves both the campus and her program, particularly the close contact she enjoys with professors in her relatively small classes. She's been involved in various University activities and organizations, including the campus SafeWalk program and the Hospitality Services Advisory Committee, and served as assistant editor for a residence newspaper. In her second year, she was vice-president of Johnston Hall, following a first-year stint as floor representative.

Particularly interested in human rights and environmental issues, Kollee plans to work in international development, perhaps beginning with a research internship abroad. Another possible route is law school.

"The ultimate dream, of course, is to work for the UN," she says, adding that she might pursue women's issues, health and development in Africa or Asia. "I love it here, but I think if I'm going to make a difference, I have to leave Canada."

It's the need to make a difference that has spurred her involvement in activities on and off campus, including her weekly visits to the correctional centre. That experience has proven an eye-opener compared with tutoring high school students, who generally suffered few problems with self-esteem and self-confidence.

Her student at the correctional centre is "more appreciative because someone is taking an interest in him," she says, explaining how she persisted beyond that initial loaded question to draw out her student and help dispel nervousness on both sides.

"It makes you feel good, you know?"

Ed's note: Donna is part of a powerful Niagara team consisting of Mary Velpel and Ryan Sills (University of Western Ontario), Sarah Lesniewski (University of Toronto) and Scott Hinds (Syracuse University). All of these students have acted as staff at INMUN. COWAC hopes to send a team each year to Harvard's World MUN.

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