Civitas Newsletter of May 9, 2006

Third & Fourth Middle School Model U.N.s This Week

We have two Middle School Model U.N. sessions this, our final week, of the Middle School Model U.N.s. As with last week, one session is on Wednesday; the other is on Thursday. Here are this week's line-ups of resolutions along with the schools that are sponsoring each resolution:

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

1. Care and Adoption of World Orphans (Hixson Middle School -- Webster Groves)
2. Juvenile Justice (Pattonville Heights)
3. Terrorism (Holman Middle School -- Pattonville)
4. Contaminated Water (Remington Middle School -- Pattonville)
5. Chernobyl / Radioactive Environment (Hixson Middle School -- Webster Groves)

Thursday, May 11, 2006

1. HIV / AIDS -- Crossroads School (St. Louis)
2. Human Trafficking (Jennings Middle School)
3. Women's Rights in North Korea (Jennings Middle School)
4. HIV / AIDS -- (McKinley Classical Junior Academy -- St. Louis)
5. Deforestation -- (Jennings Middle School)

We had wonderful sessions last Wednesday, May 3 & Thursday, May 4. The results of consideration of the resolutions for the days were as follows:

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

1. Child Soldiers & Rehabilitation (John Burroughs -- Ladue) -- Passed, 13-11-1
2. Amazon Tropical Rainforest Ecological Efforts (Hixson Middle School -- Webster Groves District) -- Amended & Passed, 19-6-3
3. Child Labor (Hoech Middle School -- Ritenour District) -- Amended & Passed, 14-10-2
4. Bride Burning (John Burroughs -- Ladue) -- Amended & Passed, 23-1-0
5. Closing of Guantanamo Bay (Hixson Middle School -- Webster Groves District) -- Defeated, 13-12-1
6. Religious Conflict (Hoech Middle School -- Ritenour District) -- Time ran out!

Thursday, May 4, 2006

1. Unhealthy Water Supplies (Saeger Accelerated Middle School -- St. Francis Howell District) -- Amended and Passed, 18-0-2
2. Bird Flu (Northwest Valley Middle School -- Northwest R-1 District) -- Passed, 16-0-3
3. Poor Education (Ralph Bunche International Studies Middle School - St. Louis) -- Passed, 15-1-3
4. Heroin Addiction in China (Loyola Academy -- St. Louis) -- Passed, 15-3-1
5. Health Care Reform (Saeger Accelerated Middle School -- St. Francis Howell District) -- Passed, 14-4-0
6. Terrorism (Northwest Valley Middle School -- Northwest R-1 District) -- Time ran out!

As the number of resolutions per date grow to five and six, we want to let you know in advance that it is possible, though not desired, that the chairs (Lisa & Arthur) may limit the speaker's list if we are running significantly behind schedule. Also, we want to reiterate how important it is for all schools to arrive prior to 9:00 AM.

You can access all submitted resolutions by clicking here.

All sessions are at the Creve Coeur Government Center (map and directions) from 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon.

As always, if you have any questions or need any additional resources for your students, please contact Lisa Granich-Kovarik at [email protected] or (314) 865-4704.

Middle School Country Selections for 2005-2006

Photos from May 3 & May 4, 2006 Middle School Model U.N. Sessions

Final High School Event This Year: PICNIC THIS SATURDAY!

The final event of our 2005-2006 high school year is our annual Spring picnic and softball game . It is this Saturday, May 13, from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM. This year the event will now be at Junior High Park in Maplewood. This is a little-known park with tremendous facilities for softball and sheltered picnicing. You can access a map and directions to the park by clicking here .

We will provide some softball equipment, but we can always use more. In particular, if you can round up a baseball or softball glove , that would be terrific. By the way, no serious competition is permitted!

Map and Directions to Junior High Park in Maplewood

High School "Teach-in" on Darfur Big Success; More Resources Now Available

Thanks so much to the "Fearsome Fivesome" from Washington University (lead by Danielle Silber, chairperson of the Washington University International Film Festival) who came to Crossroads last Saturday to conduct a "teach-in" on Darfur. Darfur is the western area of the Sudan in Africa, and while many of its citizens have been fighting for their own independence, the Sudanese government has suppressed them, using a variety of forms of torture as well as the conscription of child mercenaries.

The "teach-in" was extremely informative and most students seemed anxious to see if they could do something to address the situation.

In next week's newsletter, we will have links to a number of resources regarding Darfur, including ones in which Americans can directly help. One item that concerned readers may want to put in their calendars now is a "Call for Action -- Vigil for Darfur" on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 (photo essay on Darfur by Jerry Fowler, one of the speakers on Wednesday). It will be at the Missouri Historical Society (Jefferson Memorial) at 6:30 PM. We will have more details next week.

20-Minute Video on Crisis in Darfur (produced by Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting) -- click on link; then on map of Africa; and then on link to Panel Discussion on Darfur
Danielle Silber Essay on Darfur

PowerPoint Presentation on Darfur (may not work for everyone and may take considerable time to load)
What Students Can Do (from U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC)

Link to Photos from April�29 Discussion

Photos!

Streaming Video!

Sign-up Form for Civitas Summer Activities Still Available

As mentioned in earlier newsletters, Civitas is sponsoring a variety one and two-day activities this summer. Now you can access our sign-up form and indicate your interest. The form allows you to indicate what activities are of interest to you and what days and weeks work best for you. If you are interested, please access the form by clicking here:

Once again, the activites are:

Urban Studies Event: An analysis of the controversy over 12 acres of Forest Park located east of Kingshighway and just south of Barnes-Jewish Hospital. We will meet with planners for both Forest Park and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. We will also meet officials the city of St. Louis and close-by neighborhoods. And....we will make a necessary stop at Crown Candy Company. (This was the topic of last week's on-line survey!) [Update: On Thursday, April 20, a vote was held by a city panel that gave permission to Barnes-Jewish Hospital to move ahead with plans to negotiate the lease with Forest Park. However, the measure must pass to other legislative hurdles including the St. Louis Board of Alderpersons.] This issue will still be "hot" when we analyze it this summer.
Urban Studies Event: "Bird's-Eye View of St. Louis"...this is an "oldie-but-goodie." We will study how land-use changes in St. Louis from the perspectives of the Metropolitan Life Building (downtown); Continental Building (Mid-Town); University Club (Richmond Heights), and possibly the DoubleTree West Hotel (Chesterfield). We'll also make sure that we have time for a tasty meal.
Public Policy by the Numbers: This is an activity open to students and teachers alike. We'll examine how important it is to analyze issues by "smart use" of numbers. Using computers, we will take a look at issues ranging from traffic management in St. Louis to raising revenue for the United Nations.

Unfortunately, we do will not have a Civitas Night at the Ballpark this summer. Tickets are hard to get for a spontaneous group such as ours! We will revive this activity when the team tanks and the novelty of the less-than-overwhelming new stadium wears off.

Once again, we want you to know that we want you to know that we have an on-line sign-up sheet available for you. If you have any questions about the activities or the form, please call us at (314) 367-6480 or e-mail us at [email protected].

Survey on President Bush's Nominee to head C.I.A.

President Bush has nominated General Michael Hayden to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.). Many Republicans and Democrats alike have already expressed reservations about supporting General Hayden, primarily because (1) they do not feel that this is a good time to have the head of the C.I.A. be from the military, and (2) General Hayden has been an enthusiastic supporter of the administration's policy of spying on American citizens without court-obtained warrents. Our question is, "From what you know at this point, would you support General Hayden as director of the C.I.A.?" (If you would like more information, click here to get background information from the New York Times).

Click here to take the survey:

Previous Survey Results!

How You Rank St. Louis

This will be the first of several surveys that we will do in the coming weeks on how you feel about St. Louis, This one is rather straight-forward; simply indicating which of the localities we have on our comparative list you would rather live in and which ones you would prefer to live in St. Louis.

A partial listing of the localities is: