Newsletter of September 20, 2005

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Outstanding High School Discussion last Saturday; next meeting on October 1!

We want to thank the many fine high school students who came to our third discussion group of the year last Saturday, September 17. We had a number of new students from Incarnate Word Academy, Jennings High School, Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School, S.L.U.H., Metro High School, and Lindbergh High School. We look forward to even more students at our next session -- Saturday, October 1 -- when we have our Country Draft and well as a brief workshop on how a model U.N. works.

Most of our discussion time was spent analyzing the new Missouri law on abortion. Opinions were varied, but everyone respected the words of others, even if they disagreed with their own. Much credit goes to these students for their sense of fairness and ability to listen.

As we mentioned above, our next session will be on Saturday, October 1, at Crossroads School (map below) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. The country draft is described in the article below. We will also have a discussion group. Possible topics will be announced in next week's newsletter.

At the bottom of this article, we have links to photos and video from the meeting. We have noticed that some of our readers have had difficulty utilizing our video archives. We invite you to click here to access our video [if you have Real Player or Windows Media]

Map and Directions to Crossroads School

Photos!

Streaming Video!

How the Country Draft Works

Each year, high schools in the Gateway Model United Nations "draft" or select the countries which they will represent. In 2005, the draft will be held on October 1 at Crossroads School from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM. We will also have a short workshop on how to be an effective delegate following the country draft.
Here is how the draft works:
1. The name of each participating school in the Model U.N. will be written on a piece of paper and placed in a hat.
2. A "distinguished" member of our secretariat (staff) will draw a piece of paper from the hat.
3. The name of the school on that piece of paper will be the school that has the first draft pick of the day.
4. The staff member will continue to pull pieces of paper out of the hat and the drafting order will be determined by the order in which the names are pulled.
5. The first round of the draft will then take place. In the first round, all schools will be allowed to select a country that will be on the Security Council. Since there are only fifteen members on the real Security Council (five permanent and ten non-permanent), we will allow other countries to serve on the Security Council so that there will be one for each school. After the first fifteen real Security Council members are taken, we will then work to maintain a geographical balance of the other new members. List of 15 Security Council members. List of 189 General Assembly members.
6. After the first round, the order of selection will be reversed in the second round. This is to minimize the "penalty" on schools that drafted late in the first round.
7. The drafting order will be reversed in each subsequent round.
8. Each school selects countries for as many rounds as it wants countries. In each subsequent round, only the schools wanting more countries will select.

First Middle School teacher meeting next Monday, Sept. 26.

Our middle school program director, Lisa Granich-Kovarik, has been in touch with most middle school teachers. We want to remind you that our upcoming meeting schedule is:

1. Monday, September 26, 4:00 - 5:00 PM -- meeting for new or otherwise inexperienced teachers in the program. Agenda includes overview of the program. [Creve Coeur Government Center]

2. Monday, October 10, 4:00 - 5:00 PM -- meeting for all teachers. Agenda includes selection of spring dates for the Model U.N. sessions as well as country draft. [Creve Coeur Government Center]

3. Wednesday, November 16, 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM -- student and teacher workshop on how to prepare to be a Model U.N. delegate. [Chase-Park Plaza Hotel]

Last year was an outstanding middle school year under the leadership of Lisa. We are looking forward to even further improvement this year!
Map and Directions to Creve Coeur Government Center

Global Solutions, Local Connections Conference in Santa Fe!

College students, & high-school seniors and juniors--
We invite you to enter a contest to participate in a
national conference in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

"GLOBAL SOLUTIONS, LOCAL CONNECTIONS: MAKING THE GLOBAL LOCAL,
ONE ACTIVIST AT A TIME"

N O V E M B E R 4 - 6, 2 0 0 5

______________________________________________________________________________________

HEAR PRESENTATIONS AND JOIN IN DISCUSSIONS ON:

HOW & WHY THE U.S. SHOULD BE MORE OF A "GLOBAL TEAM PLAYER"
HOW THE U.N. MUST BE CHANGED TO BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE
WHY LOCAL ISSUES ARE ALSO GLOBAL ISSUES
THE CRITICAL WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

PARTICIPATE IN THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
POLITICALLY ACTIVE CITIZENS FOR GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
__________________________________________________________________________

Citizens for Global Solutions of Greater St. Louis will provide transportation, registration, meals, & lodging at the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a college student or a high-school junior or senior to attend this national convention.
The conference begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, November 4, so you should be able to leave St. Louis Thursday evening. It ends at noon Sunday, November 6, so you could be back by that night. Getting to & from the St. Louis airport is your responsibility.
If you want to be a contestant for this all-expenses-paid trip, write a 3-5 page typed essay (double-spaced) consisting of two parts. In the first part tell us about your background and why you would be a good person for us to send to this meeting. In the second part share with us your thinking about some of the problems our world community faces and how we might deal with them more effectively.
____________________________________________________________________

In exchange for this subsidy C/GS of St. Louis expects you to give us a brief written report about
the conference & what you learned from it. (This gets published in our local newsletter.)

Send your essay to:
Ronald J. Glossop, 8894 Berkay Avenue, Jennings, MO 63136-5004
or preferably by e-mail to:
Be sure to include your home address and home telephone number.

For more information, call (314) 869-2303.

Deadline: October 17, 2005. Winner will be notified by October 19, 2005.

Survey on Today's Feminism Movement

Today's New York Times has an article by Louise Story entitled "Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood." The text includes the following: At Yale and other top colleges, women are being groomed to take their place in an ever more diverse professional elite. It is almost taken for granted that, just as they make up half the students at these institutions, they will move into leadership roles on an equal basis with their male classmates. There is just one problem with this scenario: many of these women say that is not what they want. Many women at the nation's most elite colleges say they have already decided that they will put aside their careers in favor of raising children. Though some of these students are not planning to have children and some hope to have a family and work full time, many others, like Ms. Liu, say they will happily play a traditional female role, with motherhood their main commitment. Do you think that the trend described in this article reflects a weakening of the feminist movement?

Survey on Today's Feminist Movement

Previous Survey Results!

Last newsletter's question was:

Survey on National Day of Prayer

President Bush has called for a "national day of prayer" this Friday, September 16 as a sign of respect to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We have two questions for you:

(1) Do you think that the "day of prayer" will be of benefit to any of the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

Responses:

1. Yes 6 (60%)

2. No 3 (30%)

3. Not Sure 1 (10%)

(2) Do you think that the "day of prayer" will be of any benefit to the people who are doing the praying?

1. Yes 6 (60%)

2. No 1 (10%)

3. Not Sure 3 (30%)

COMMENTS ON THE ISSUE

Brett DeLaria; S.L.U.H., 2008

Prayer is a powerful thing. Never underestimate the power of prayer and what it can do for you and others. The gospels stress to not only pray for oneself, but pray for your neighbors. It's my belief that if we do pray for our neighbors in LA that we will also be rewarded by God for our own personal needs.

Abigail Henderson; Fox High School, 2010

This is fine for religious people, but for non-religious people, they will get disgraced if they do not pray. What happened to religion not getting in the way of the government?!?!?! A day of respect or honor or something would be much more appropriate, because if we had an atheist president, he wouldn't be allowed to say "National Day when you are not allowed to pray." So Bush shouldn't be doing anything similar.

Anthony Keel; S.L.U.H.; 2006

In terms of benefiting the victims, I say praying would help. It always helps a little to pray. They should, of course, be doing things other than just praying too. In terms of benefiting those who are praying, though, I do not know. With all the apathy around our nation, I do not think anyone would even know, remember, or care about a "prayer day." If they did pray WITH SINCERITY, however, they might get something out of it.

Additional Links

Photo Gallery
Streaming Video [Real Media]
Civitas Calendar
Civitas Intranets Site
Civitas Home Page
Maps & Directions
Previous Newsletters
Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2004-2005
Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution