Civitas Home Page

M.S. TEACHER MEETING THIS MONDAY, SEPT. 25

Our Middle School Model UN program has undergone tremendous growth this year, with enrollment soaring from just over 500 students to well over 900! This is terrific news, and we want to extend a warm welcome to the schools that are new to the program this year: North Kirkwood Middle, St. Roch's, and St. Margaret of Scotland. In addition, Hoech, Northwest Valley, and Hixson are expanding the program in their schools and including more students than ever. There are two important reminders to teachers in the program:

We're looking forward to our biggest and best year yet!

Twenty-nine H.S. STUDENTS AT 
LAST SATURDAY DISCUSSION

Last Saturday, September 16, we had twenty-nine students in attendance at our discussion group.  We had two lively sessions separated by a semi-nutritious snack break. 

During the first session, the topic was President Bush's proposal to reinterpret Article 3 of the Geneva Accords on prisoner treatment to leave open the possibility of Americans torturing prisoners.  Republican senators Susan Collins (ME), Lindsey Graham (SC) John McCain (AZ) and John Warner (VA) oppose the proposals (the three men all served considerable time in the military and John McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for over five years).  While articulate defenses of the Bush position were presented in the discussion, most students presented compelling arguments to "keep the U.S. out of the torture business."

The second topic related to Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks regarding Islam.  While there was some support for the Pope's remarks, most students felt that he had "gone over the line."   An interesting side note to this is that "the new" CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is inaugurating a new feature on free speech.  One of the people they asked to participate was comedian Bill Maher.  He said that the topic he would like to discuss was religion.  In the name of "free speech," they withdrew their invitation to him.  At Civitas discussion groups, we can always discuss religion or anything else so long as we are respectful to one another!

Photos from Session

H.S. COUNTRY DRAFT ON SATURDAY, SEPT. 30

Our annual high school country draft is less than two weeks away.  It will be on Saturday, September 30, at Crossroads School (map) from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM.  In addition to the draft, we will have a basic introduction to being an effective model U.N. delegate.

The country draft is the event in which representatives from each participating high school select the countries that their students will be representing in the model U.N. this year.  The first model U.N. this year will be on Saturday, November 18 at the Radisson Hotel - Downtown from 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM.

We will have three committees of the General Assembly: (a) Political & Security; (b) Economic & Social; and (c) Human Rights.  Each country needs a representative in each of these committees.  Therefore, when a school selects a country in the draft, it should keep in mind that at least three students will be needed to ensure that the country is represented in each committee.

There are fifteen countries in the Security Council.  Each school will have an opportunity to represent at least one Security Council country.  In that case, the school will need a fourth delegate for that country (three for the General Assembly committees and one for the Security Council).  The Security Council is much smaller than the other committees, so students who represent countries in the Security Council should feel comfortable speaking frequently in a small group.

You can get a complete explanation of how the country draft works by clicking on the link below.  We also have direct links to the September 2006 General Assembly roster of the United Nations as well as the fifteen Security Council members.

• You can learn how the country draft works by clicking here.
• Link to roster of General Assembly countries (191).
• Link to 2006 Security Council countries (15).

NEW TOPICS FOR CIVITAS BLOG

Please share your thoughts about this with us.  Just go to our blog at http://civitas-stl.livejournal.com (a web site that you might want to bookmark!).  You can dive right in and respond.  We would love to get a lively discussion going!

LINK TO BLOG:

Reminder to High School Seniors and Juniors
about upcoming conference in Washington, DC.

Deadline: October 15, 2006 .

Click here for more details

Reinventing U.N.Conference Home Page