While most youth partake in traditional summer camp activities such as archery, horseback riding, and swimming, Belmont resident Dana O’Rourke, 14, chose to participate in a weeklong global diplomacy summer camp.
O’Rourke spent a week at Harvard Business School to participate in the United Nations Association of Greater Boston’s Summer Institute.
O’Rourke answers a few questions about her unique camp experience.
Out of 44 middle school and high school students in the Greater Boston area, only three students in Belmont participated in the Model UN Summer Institute and you were one of them. How did you first hear about this summer institute and why did you decide to participate?
I’ve actually always been interested in Model UN. I couldn’t do it at Chenery Middle School because it was for students in the afterschool program, ChenEx. I was interested in how it works – the debating and representing of the countries.
Student participants in Model UN were introduced to international relations and critical 21st century skills like negotiations, public speaking and problem solving through the lens of Model United Nations curriculum and simulations focused on human rights and terrorism. How would you say your negotiating, public speaking or problem solving skills improved? Tell me about some of the exercises you participated in.
Before Model UN, I actually had a lot of trouble with public speaking. I took theatre in eighth grade and I have to admit it was not my favorite class. We did a lot of public speaking in front of the class and I hated it. It was hard for me to speak in front of large groups and I couldn’t get used to it. At Model UN, we did a lot of public speaking exercises. There was one exercise I remember where we each had to walk up to the front of the room and pick work at random, then explain for at least one minute why that word was important. Some people got easy words like “toothpaste” or “sleep” and had to explain why toothpaste or sleep was important. But, of course, I got the word seagull. I had to walk up to the front of the room and right there on the spot talk about why seagulls are important. But exercises like that helped me so I’m now more comfortable getting up in front of large groups to speak.
Student participants in Model UN were offered a chance to experience firsthand life as a diplomat from countries as diverse as China, Libya, and the United Kingdom, as they debate, negotiate, and create resolutions to the world’s most pressing issues. You put diplomacy and democracy into action through negotiating solutions to real-world programs. You had the opportunity to hone the skills needed as global citizens and leaders in the 21st century. What does being a leader mean to you?
We are asked this question in school sometimes. I notice kids usually say it’s about taking charge and being able to tell people what to do. But I’ve learned to realize that’s not what it’s about. Being a leader is more about setting an example for others. It’s about doing good and when people see you doing that good, it inspires them to do good themselves. That way, if more people are doing good the world will eventually become a more peaceful, better place than it is now. So I don’t think being a leader is about taking charge and telling others what to do. I think being a leader is about setting a good example for others to follow.
I understand the week culminated into a mini-simulation where participants actually stepped into the roles of diplomats and represented their countries in a United Nations committee, focused on debating conflicts. Tell me about this experience. What country did you represent? If you didn’t represent the United States, was it difficult to represent or debate for another country? What issues were debated?
I got to learn about other countries perspective on terrorism and conflict diamonds – or blood diamonds. I was assigned a country in a group of two for each debate. I represented Egypt in the terrorism debate and Lebanon in the conflict diamond debate.
During the terrorism debate, my country, Egypt, was against terrorism and wanted to put a stop to it. But there were other countries who didn’t find terrorism to be a serious problem. I noticed it was hard for other people representing those countries to make that argument.
It was interesting to see other countries perspectives on conflict diamonds. I learned the country I represented, Lebanon, is publicly against conflict diamonds but the government still smuggles them in illegally. So, we had to argue against conflict diamonds and say nothing should be done about it at the same time. I didn’t have much background information on blood diamonds, but once I learned more about it, I found it was hard to argue against my already formulated opinion. It was a very different kind of experience.
What did you like most about Model UN?
Besides the amazing cafeteria at Harvard Business School, I’d have to say I really liked the debating aspect of it. I was able to disagree with someone and actually voice my opinion. In school, if someone says something you can’t just stand up and disagree about with them. The class would look at me funny. But at Model UN you can actually stand up, get into a heated argument and disagree with someone and its all in fun and good nature. After you can go talk to the person you argued with and have no hard feelings because that’s what we were supposed to be doing. I like being able to persuade others because I think it’s a good thing when others see different points of views – they can hear the complete argument behind an issue.
Did your participation in Model UN make you think differently about democracy in the United States?
At Model UN I learned a lot about different countries and how they work and it made me appreciate how the United States provides citizens with freedom and security. Democracies are really important. It makes the country function. Not everyone may be happy, but the majority of the country will be happy because we all can vote. The presidential vote may be 51 percent to 49 percent, so 49 percent won’t be happy about who their president is but at least the majority is represented and everyone had a fair vote. Other countries aren’t as fortunate in this sense.