Yet, both NAU\nalumnae represented the south Asian nation at an international conference\nearlier this year, arguing passionately on behalf of the Cambodian people,\nlooking for compromises with other countries to help Cambodia both come to\nterms with and move past its history, a task that is hard to describe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact,\nthe whole experience\u2014known as World Model United Nations, which in 2019 took\nplace in Madrid, Spain\u2014was one the students say should be experienced more than\ndescribed. This is why every year, political science principal lecturer Gretchen\nGee<\/strong> leads a team of NAU students to another part of the world, allowing\nthem to spend a week with peers from around the globe, discussing difficult\nreal-world issues and building relationships that cross borders. These students\nrepresent a variety of majors and career aspirations; some have traveled the\nworld while others have never left the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s\nalmost unparalleled in the opportunities it provides, Gee said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is an opportunity not just to travel as a tourist to another country, but an opportunity to really engage intellectually as well as personally with some of the big issues of the world,\u201d Gee said. \u201cAt these conferences, we\u2019re talking about things like how to alleviate poverty, how to help countries best develop, how to help other countries overcome historical trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudents\nget to engage in that, not just at an intellectual level but in this personal\nlevel in the sense of investing themselves as though they are one of these\ncountries. It\u2019s really firsthand, experiential learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes\nthis opportunity possible, when so many other international experiences are out\nof reach for many students, is generous NAU donors who help fund the trip. For NAU\nalumni Roy<\/strong> and Delores Morey<\/strong> (\u201859), who endow the trip every\nyear, those students are precisely their motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI served for 22 years as a senior officer in\nthe United Nations,\u201d Roy Morey said. \u201cIt was only natural that Delores and\nI would be interested in establishing an endowment to help support students\nfrom families of limited means who may not be able to travel to the\ncompetitions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn\nmore about the NAU Foundation and the many opportunities to donate to causes\nthat are significant to you.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n World\nModel United Nations is an opportunity for students throughout the world;\nuniversities send teams to a Harvard-sponsored conference, where students spend\na week in committee meetings, discussing issues like genocide, immigration,\nhumanitarian rights and press freedom\u2014real-world, thorny issues that world\nleaders discuss and debate every day. The students are assigned to represent a\nspecific country and appointed to a committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once at\nthe conference, students spend the week meeting with their committees, going\nthrough the issue at hand, debating possible solutions and trying to pick their\nway through the competing demands of different countries, having similar\nconversations to those of world leaders and diplomats today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a\npicture of active learning,\u201d Gee said. \u201cYou are actively engaged in taking the\nknowledge that you\u2019ve got, actively arguing the point of your country, and then\nyou have to be listening to all the countries that are talking because part of\nModel UN is looking for other countries that could be possible allies, finding\nthem and working together to create negotiations and actually write resolutions\nthat you\u2019re going to try to get passed by the entire committee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gee\npointed to a debate during the 2019 World MUN conference in Madrid about the\nrefugee crisis. Students representing Libya, a sending country, sat on a\ncommittee with Italy, a receiving country. Their conflicting needs required\nhard conversations about a problem everyone sees but to which no one sees a\nworkable solution. Students come away with an understanding of just how\ndifficult such problems are to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While at\nthe conference, students mingle with their peers, build relationships, learn\nabout their host country and hear from world leaders. In Madrid, Felipe VI, the\nking of Spain, was the keynote speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a\ndifferent club than Model UN, though the two frequently overlap; in fact, both\nRahner and Lambrigger came to World MUN through participation in Model UN. The\nWorld MUN team, which requires an application, meet throughout the spring\nsemester to prepare, but the annual international conference, held each year\nduring spring break, is their one big event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nprogram has dual purposes: help students develop skills that will aid them in\ncareers, leadership positions, further education and wherever else they end up\nin their lives; and help foster a global community with mutual respect and\nunderstanding, requiring the students to not only get to know students from\ndozens of other countries, but also to consider international issues from a\nperspective that is not their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Rahner\nand Lambrigger, that meant months of researching Cambodia\u2019s history, including\nthe genocide of the 1970s, when the Khmer Rouge regime executed about 2 million\nof its own citizens, and how the country has dealt with that since, both from a\nlegal standpoint and also how society has been shaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy\nto see how some of those skills\u2014debate, public speaking, problem-solving\u2014fit\ninto World MUN and how easily transferrable they are to careers. But don\u2019t\nthink it\u2019s only valuable for budding politicians and diplomats and motivational\nspeakers. Lambrigger, who graduated in May with a double major in anthropology\nand biology and participated in undergraduate research in forensics<\/a> during her time at NAU, found an\nimmediate connection to her career goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI hope to\nhelp with mass grave exhumation from recent genocides and repatriation of those\nremains back to communities,\u201d she said. \u201cThe committee I was placed in at World\nMUN focused on post-genocide reconstruction, which was directly in line with my\nacademic and professional interests. Being able to meld those interests with a\nconference that encouraged creative thinking and multicultural perspectives and\ntravel was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rahner,\nwho majored in political science and Spanish, directly connected skills from\nthe classroom into her experience at the conference, all of which will inform\nher future as a lawyer. But those with perhaps less traditional majors should\ncheck it out as well, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery\nskill you learn at conferences, from public speaking to analyzing policy\nproposals to debate and compromise can be applied to diverse future endeavors,\u201d\nRahner said. \u201cIf I wanted to be a marine biologist or a middle school teacher,\nI could find a way to use the skills fostered at World MUN.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rahner was\non the Special Political and Decolonization Committee; she spent the week\ndiscussing the rights and protections of secessionist states. The committee\ntouched on democracy building, post-colonialism, cultural and political\nself-actualization and the proper role of the United Nations. She found herself\npresenting positions that were at odds with other members\u2019 positions and\nfinding unusual connections to make sure her voice\u2014Cambodia\u2019s voice\u2014was heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a\nbusy, tiring and at times an overwhelming week, so in between committee\nmeetings and networking and learning more about the UN and international\naffairs, students took the time to explore their host cities, experience local\nculture and sample the cuisine. Rahner talked about seeing original Picassos at\nthe Reina Sof\u00eda,\nriding scooters through El Parque Retiro at sunset and \u201csampling ridiculously\nbougie paella.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nstudents also get a little time off, so Gee arranges day trips to nearby\ncities. In Spain, they went to the ancient city of Toledo; exploring it was one\nof the highlights of Lambrigger\u2019s week. At the 2020 World MUN conference in\nTokyo, Japan, the delegation will take a high-speed train to Hakone, near Mount\nFuji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TheMoreys\u2019 endowment is sufficient to cover the team\u2019s housing each year, which takes a huge chunk out of the total cost for each student. From there, the students turn to other funding sources like ASNAU, the Center for International Education, Dean Karen Pugliesi\u2019s<\/strong> office and the Office of Undergraduate Research to pay for registration fees, plane tickets and food. Typically, students also pitch in their own money. Gee likes that they do the work for this funding themselves, but she never wants the students ponying up the majority of the money out of their bank accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re a\nuniversity filled with first-generation kids; we\u2019re a university filled with\nkids who are working their way through school and taking out student loans,\u201d\nshe said. \u201cI am so passionate about not making this a trip for kids who just\nhappen to come from wealthier backgrounds. I really want this to be a trip that\nkids from modest backgrounds can also take part in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Roy and\nDelores Morey said they both came from families with limited means, but tuition\nand the cost of living in the 1950s were low enough that they could work during\nthe summers and live off those earnings the rest of the year. As state\ninvestment decreased and other costs increased, they saw students struggling\nmore than they had. They also realized that many students, concerned with\ntuition, rent and food costs, didn\u2019t even consider taking on additional\nopportunities that would expand their horizons but also add to their expenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\nstarted by endowing a Washington internship for a student to spend either a\nsemester or a summer working in a congressional office,\u201d Delores Morey said.\n\u201cWe then became very impressed with the success of the NAU Model UN team and\nthe high quality of its members, so now that is our second endowment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ndonations made a huge difference for Lambrigger, who worked three part-time\njobs throughout college to pay for living expenses while ensuring she kept her\ngrades up so she could keep her scholarship. Paying for this trip herself would\nhave been out of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo go to\nSpain for a week as a college student in many situations is unheard of, so the\nfact that six of us got to go and live in Madrid for less than $200 each is\ntruly a gift, and I can safely say on behalf of all six of us that we are\nincredibly grateful for the donations and gifts that made it happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cultivating\ndonor relationships to help support the student experience has been a top\npriority for Pugliesi, whose office also kicked in funding for the team to go\nto Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Model UN is an award-winning academic team\nthrough which students learn about political systems, international\nrelations and the issues impacting nations around the world,\u201d she said. \u201cThe\ngenerous support of our donors enables us to send the NAU Model UN team to\ndomestic and international competitions. Without philanthropic gifts, our\nteam would not have achieved national ranking, placing among the top 75 teams\nin the U.S.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the Moreys, it\u2019s about paying back what NAU\ngave them and an opportunity to help future generations of Lumberjacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNAU was very good to us and provided us with an education that we used as a stepping stone to achieve a successful and rewarding life,\u201d Roy Morey said. \u201cWe are certain that there are thousands of NAU alumni who can say exactly the same thing, and we would encourage them to give back.\u00a0It is the best legacy anyone can leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interested in donating to help fund the team to go to Tokyo in 2020? Visit the <\/em>NAU Foundation website<\/em><\/a> and enter fund No. 5291 (Model United Nations) or explore the hundreds of other giving opportunities available through the Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Interested\nstudents don\u2019t need to be good public speakers or debaters when they apply, but\nthey need to be willing to learn how to research and engage with ideas and get\ncomfortable speaking in public, Gee said. But she doesn\u2019t want that to scare\nanyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\ndon\u2019t have to be great public speakers,\u201d she said. \u201cI like having kids who\naren\u2019t great public speakers to start with because I see this as an opportunity\nto grow, to learn how to be a better public speaker, to learn how to advocate\nas well as listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That enthusiasm and desire to learn and grow is the No. 1 factor Gee wants in World MUN representatives from NAU. She\u2019s far less concerned with majors\u2014and in today\u2019s global economy, students in any major can find value in such an international experience\u2014and students don\u2019t need to speak another language or have any travel experience. Gee recalled one student who comes to mind for success at World MUN; he\u2019d never left the country before the conference in Brussels, Belgium. Gee roved between committees during the week, hoping to catch students in action, and happened to step into this room just as her student began to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo see\nhim go stand up at the front and so eloquently defend his position was just so\nheartwarming,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is\nWorld Model UN?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"C\u00e9zanne](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_3963.jpg\")
What\nbenefits do students see?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"Taylor](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/54799077_2730283796988598_6539215668120649728_n.jpg\")
How\nhave donors made this possible?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"World](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/55512067_2723850410965270_5883888389865865216_n.jpg\")
Who\nshould apply for World Model UN?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"NAU](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/NAU_primary-281_3514-1-e1536853679171.png\")
<\/figure>
Heidi Toth | NAU Communications
(928) 523-8737 | heidi.toth@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"