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Our 1-Q-S (One Question Survey)
Here are a few figures about guns in America, as reported in the September 10, 2007 edition of TIME Magazine:
 90: Number of guns in the U.S. for every 100 citizens, according to the 2oo7 Small Arms Survey, making it the most heavily armed country in the world. India has the second largest civilian gun arsenal tally, with just 4 guns per 100 people.
4.5 million: Number of new guns purchased in the U.S. each year, more than half of the 8 milliion produced worldwide.
The question in our survey might surprise you!
Guns in America Click here for results of last week's survey.
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First Middle School Teacher Meeting Big Success
Each year, Civitas has and opening meeting for new teachers to the middle school program. Yesterday eight teachers met at the Richmond Heights Community Center. They were Barbara Saenz from City Academy, Christine Marshall from John Burroughs School, John Grimi from Marian
Middle School, Steve Lawler (principal) from Maplewood-Richmond Heights Middle School, Kris Liesmann from Orchard Farm Middle School, Garth Weihl from Ralph Bunche International Studies Middle School, Bridget Noser from St. Margaret of Scotland, and Kathryn Scherry from St. Mary Magdalen. Lisa Granich-Kovarik, Civitas coordinator of the middle school model U.N., explained all necessary introductory information about the program. The teachers were enthusiastic and the program is off to another excellent start.
The next meeting for middle school teachers (and this will be for all) is Monday, October 15, at 4:00 PM at the Richmond Heights Community Center.
Middle school teachers who have any questions should contact Lisa and [email protected] or call her at (314) 865-4704.
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Another Terrific High School Discussion Last Saturday
 Thanks to the thirty high school students who came to last Saturday's second discussion of the year. The first topic discussed was a movement in Kansas City, MO and elsewher to eliminate middle schools and go back to K-8 schools. This is an issue that was near and dear to the hearts of most of students present. While there was no consensus, the main issues were clearly defined and clear arguments presented.
We also began preparation for our model U.N. country draft on Saturday, September 29. WE discussed what countries we were most interested in and why we wanted to learn more about them. There was a remarkable degree of diversity on this issue.
Students who attended were from Cardinal Ritter, C.B.C., Crossroads, Lindbergh, Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Metro, Parkway North, Rosati-Kain, S.L.U.H., Vianney, and Webster Groves.
Our third discussion of the year is this Saturday, September 15. It also will be at Crossroads (If you have a suggested topic please e-mail us at [email protected]. Hope to see you there!
Photos from last Saturday's discussion (more will be posted after 11:00 AM today!).
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Thanks to High School Faculty Advisors ..... particularly those who came to our one and only annual meeting for you (because we know that your spare time is sparse and precious) last Saturday. We also want to remind you about our new MeetUp site:
Something new that we are doing for high school teachers this year:
 We will be using an additional method of communicating with you this year about our high school model U.N. events. You may have heard of MEETUP.COM – an online site that allows various organizations to communicate directly, efficiently, and interactively with members. We just established a new MEETUP.COM group for high school teachers involved in Civitas Activities. It is called Civitas Staff and Faculty Advisors. You can access it by going to http://teachers.meetup.com/136/. Please note to NOT include the www.
We will send you direct invitations on Wednesday, September 5 to join the meetup group. We ask that if you don’t have any objections, you simply accept the invitation and join. You will then have easy access to the calendar of events for Civitas high school events.
Sometimes we will send you reminders that will come in the form of “invitations.” Don’t let that worry you; with the exception of this Saturday’s meeting we are not expecting you to come to any of the meetings. However, the invitation allows you to RSVP. The unique component to this is that you can say that you’re not coming, but you have guests who are coming. These guests would be students from your school who are involved in our activities. Simply RSVP by saying “NO” for yourself and then enter the number of students from your school that you expect to attend. We don’t expect this to be terribly accurate, but it should give us a general idea. We ask that if possible you try to determine how many students might be coming. If it’s a busy time and you can’t, we understand.
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Civitas Once Again Teams Up with Pulitzer Center in Global Gateway Project
 We were somewhat amused to see a promotion for Channel 5 news in which one of the anchors said that they don't cover celebrity mishaps as lead stories. And pigs can fly!
The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting was established two years ago to provide accurate reporting on global issues that often are not on the radar screen of the mainstream press. Part of their program is an outreach project to St. Louis schools in which students get opportunities to communicate directly with journalists on the job. In addition, reporters and videographers come to St. Louis three time a year to meet with students in St. Louis to further describe their experiences. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other similar program in which students and journalists can actively interact in real time.
Three projects are scheduled for the 2007-2008 school year. The first is this Fall on Iraq: Death of a Nation. Reporter/Teacher David Enders spent much of the past summer in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen meeting with Iraqi refugees who have been displaced both within their country and outside. We will be opening up a blog with him for participating students shortly. In the meantime, we are giving St. Louis area students opportunities to blog with refugees living in St. Louis to learn more about their experiences. To do so, students can simply go to the Civitas blog at http://civitas-stl.livejournal.com/ and start posting!
High schools that will be participating in this Fall's Global Gateway project are Collinsville, Crossroads, Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Parkway West, Rosati-Kain, Soldan, and St. Joseph's Academy. Teachers from other high schools or middle schools who are interested should contact us at [email protected] or call us at (314) 367-6480.
Finally for teachers, the Pulitzer Center is sponsoring a workshop on its resources and curriculum development for teachers on Saturday morning, October 6. It will be from 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM (location to be determined). Participating teachers will receive a $50.00 stipend. If you are interested, please e-mail us at [email protected].
You can access more information on the Global Gateway Project by clicking here.
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Essay Contest for Students from Citizens for Global Solutions
Ron Glossop and the local chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions is once again offering an outstanding opportunity for high school and college students in the St. Louis area to attend an all-expenses paid conference in Minneapolis in October. The topics of the conference cover a host of United Nations related issues. In order for a student to qualify for the trip, he/she must submit a thoughtful essay. Click here for more details.
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Upcoming Civitas Events
(Preliminary Version; actual events in bold -- always subject to change when change occurs!)
Black: High School Blue: Middle School
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DATE |
TIME |
PLACE |
ACTIVITIES |
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Sat.,
09/15/07 |
9:00 AM -
11:00 AM |
Crossroads |
Discussion Group #3
(also ACT test) |
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Sat.,
9/22/07 |
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM |
Crossroads |
Urban Go-Team Meeting with Tim Berry from Michelson Realty |
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Sat.,
09/29/07 |
9:00 AM -
11:00 AM |
Crossroads |
Selection of Countries
Prep Session for 1st MUN |
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Sat.,
10/13/07 |
9:00 AM -
11:00 AM |
Crossroads |
Discussion Group #4 |
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Mon., 10/15/07 |
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM |
Richmond Heights Community Center |
Middle School Teacher Meeting #2 |
Rev., September 4, 2007
See complete Civitas calendar for 2007-2008 by clicking here.
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Results from last week's survey:
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Civitas now takes donations and payment of fees with credit cards and PayPal. If you want to make a tax-deductible donation or pay a fee, you may do so by clicking here.
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ADDITIONAL LINKS
Civitas Home Page
Photo Gallery
Civitas Calendar for 2006-2007
Civitas Intranets Site
Civitas Blog
Maps & Directions
Previous Newsletters
General Assembly Countries
Security Council Countries
Conference (Feb., 2007) on "The Nuclear Club"
Checklist for Writing a Model U.N. Resolution
Resolutions (High School U.N.) for 2004-2006
Make donation to Civitas
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