News From Niagara MUN Clubs

 

A. N. Myer

A.N. Myer in Niagara Falls has a relatively small team of ten students this year as we rebuild from the loss of many key members to higher education. David Crowe and Mark Teeple were elected to executive positions last year.

 Recently, our club was involved with some local elementary schools in helping to organize and run mock debates in their schools. This will help our club grow in the future.

Our team is preparing for the upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. and for future multi-day debates, as well for the local MUN debating arena. All the members have been meeting regularly to work on their ability to write award-winning working papers, and their overall debating skills; including foreign policies, making effective statements, and the general policies and rules of the United Nations.

Historically, Myer students have frequently placed at the top of the results column at MUN competitions. We recently won a first place award at the local MUN debate held at Holy Cross in St. Catharines. Members of this MUN club have traveled as far as England for MUN debates. We will strive to maintain our club's reputation for quality debating, leadership, and results.

 

 

Niagara District

 

            Niagara District Secondary School, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, has had a strong interest in Model United Nations debating for several years. This year, Sarah Urquhart and Jennifer Chaytor were appointed as Head Delegates of the club. With approximately 14 students involved, we have more delegates than we have had for the past several years. We also have several Grade 9 and 10 members, which speaks well for the future of our club.

 

            Over the past few years, the club has made a tradition of helping to train Grade 7 and 8 students from the local elementary school for the ENMUN debate that occurs each spring. This has helped us to attract Grade 9 members when they start attending NDSS. In recent years, our club has also helped to organize the MUN debates at the Spoken Word Festival for Grade 7, 8 and 9 students, at Brock University each spring.

 

            Our MUN club has attended debates at Kent State University for the past few years, and this year is looking forward to participating in the Washington Area MUN conference in Washington D.C. in April 2001. Our club members are also involved in COWAC single day and multi-day debates.

 

            Recently, we have received second and third-place finishes at single-day events, some of which were won by our Novice debaters. The Head Delegates are working to improve our debaters' knowledge of foreign policies, and effective caucus and resolution-writing skills.

 

 

 

E.L. Crossley

 

Due to excellent performance last year and successful recruitment this year, the E.L. Crossley Model United Nations Club ("ELCMUN") has reached an all-time high in its ranks. We are off to an excellent start this year.  Elections held last year placed Matt Zalot and Tim Fowler in charge of the club, as well as positions on the COWAC leadership pool for local debates.  We did not have a staff advisor for the first half of the year, mostly due to work-to-rule legislation, but we have recently acquired the fantastic Mrs. Sturman to serve as a staff sponsor for our club.

 

Crossley has held many half-day mock debates at our school to give practice to the newer members of our club, and we are truly seeing the results of these exercises at the Niagara single-day debates.  Many first year debaters are placing at the debates, and this speaks well to the future of the club.  With only 2 of our members completing high school last year, we are pleased with the improving skill level in the club.  Many first and second year members are well on their way to becoming exceptional Model UN debaters.

 

Aside from the local COWAC debates held at the DSBN building, the biggest initiative our club has planned is the trip to the Chaminade Model United Nations Symposium 2001 ("CHAMUN"), in Toronto, March 21st-23rd.  We are sending 13 delegates to this high-school debate and have great expectations.  Last year, the club went to a conference called SAGE in Kingston, held at Queen's University.  Unfortunately, that debate moved to an all university student format, so we were out of luck this year, as many members of the club were looking forward to returning.  Luckily, we now have the aforementioned debate to worry about now, so our plate is filled nicely.  As the second semester is now underway we look towards even more success in the future.