JCCC Model UN Received Outstanding Awards At the United Nations

The Johnson County Community College (JCCC) Model United Nations team is pleased to announce that it received an Outstanding Delegation Award and an Outstanding Position Paper Award for its portrayal Kenya at the National Model United Nations Conference (NMUN) in New York City, April 4-9, 2009. In addition, JCCC students Trent Brining, (Overland Park, KS) and Ashlie Van Hoecke, (Overland Park, KS & Reston Va.) in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received an outstanding delegate award (selected by vote of the student delegates in the committee). “The amount of research and knowledge that every student in my committee brought to the discussion was very impressive,” said Ashlie Van Hoecke. The team advisor, Dr. Brian Wright JCCC Associate Professor of Political Science, said “an exceptional group of students who worked very hard.” Sixteen JCCC students competed with other colleges and universities from across North & South America, Europe and Asia (for example Universidad Central de Venezuela, Georgia State University, California State University Los Angeles, Yonsei University South Korea, Universidad San Francisco de Quito Ecuador , London School of Economics, Faculte de droit de l’Universite de Montreal, University of Texas, Universitat Erfurt Germany, Universitat Hamburg Germany, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin, University of British Columbia, University of Bonn, University of London, University of Tokyo, Northwestern Polytechnical University China, New York University).

 

“These awards it would not have been possible without the hard work and collaboration between of every member of this team,” said JCCC student Jessica Seitter, of Overland Park, KS. In addition to Miss Seitter, the JCCC team members are: Donnie Hicks (team co-captain) from Shawnee KS, Calvin Baumgarten (Kansas City, KS), Brandy Schmitz, (Olathe, KS.), Sarah Taylor (Lawrence, KS.) Jason Beury (Lawrence, KS.) Olga Bodan (Chişinău, Moldova), Adam Drovetta (Gardner, KS.), Ross (Prairie Village, KS), Joanna Mazurek (ZamoscPoland), and Heather Odell, (Lawrence, KS) . This NMUN award caps four years of success for JCCC, during which the team has won awards at the last twelve consecutive conferences they have attended. It also completes a sweep for the school year with this JCCC team having won similar awards at National Collegiate Model United Nations and Leadership Conference at Northwestern Polytechnical University, X’ian Chinaand Mid-West Model UN in St. Louis. These conferences are an exceptional educational opportunity for JCCC students and a chance to highlight the school’s academic excellence. JCCC students prepared for the conference through research for position papers, class assignments, and participation at their own MUN simulation. A wide variety of majors are represented on this team, such as Political Science, Business, History, Nursing, Education, English, and Science.

 

The Position Paper Award is presented in recognition of Johnson County’s outstanding pre-conference preparation. The position paper serves as a blueprint for building consensus and formulating and negotiating workable draft resolutions to resolve issues. The committee’s and issues for position papers that were prepared by JCCC students are shown below.

 

 “This is an exceptional learning experience where JCCC students are able to interact with many international students to share ideas about and find solutions to global issues. I am proud to be a part of such a successful team” said Heather Odell. “It is very impressive former,” JCCC Model UN faculty advisor and current Adjunct Professor, George Belzer adds that “I hope everyone understands how big an achievement this is for JCCC. NMUN is by far the world’s largest and most prestigious Model UN conference. Participants include major universities from throughout the world, each of which sets the main focus of their program on award recognition at New York. Although the NMUN is huge and continues to grow, it has kept its number of awards small and to win one clearly says to the rest of the Model UN community that you have one of the strongest programs in the world. Winning such awards is a great experience for our students will stay with them throughout their lives.”

Model United Nations allows students to understand the international issues at the United Nations while building skills in public speaking and diplomacy. More than 2500 students participated in the conference by proposing resolutions and writing reports dealing with world issues. The conference helps students to further understand global issues and international relations in a forum that allows them to discuss global concerns in an atmosphere that is similar to that of the United Nations. Student Donnie Hicks said of the conference, “This experience at NMUN has been an educational and eye-opening experience, allowing the JCCC team to bond together and cooperate to achieve the highest accolades possible.” Matt Ross “When you enter the United Nations General Assembly Hall and witness so many students from around the world working on international issues. Nothing compares to the feeling of everything coming together which spending time at the United Nations. Just imagine what we can accomplish in the future.”  

 

JCCC MODEL UNITED NATIONS TEAM RECEIVED AWARDS AT ST. LOUIS CONFERENCE

 

The JCCC Model United Nations team received two Honorable Mention awards for its portrayal of Canada and Poland at the 2009 Mid-West Model United Nations Conference St. Louis on Feb. 17-22. 2009 

This accomplishment is attributable to team members Matt Ross and Ashlie Van Hoecke for their work policy positions before General Assembly Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN) and the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ESOSOC.) The issue before ECOFIN was “Preventing and Combating Corrupt Practices and Transfer of Funds of Illicit Origin and Returning such Assets to the Countries of Origin.” The issues before ESOSOC included “Strengthening the coordination of the United Nation’s Emergency Humanitarian Aid Assistance,” “Technical assistance for Implementing the International Conventions and Protocols Relating to Terrorism” and “Evaluating The work of the United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS.” Representing one of only two community colleges at the event, the JCCC team competed against students from over 100 other universities and colleges from across North America including DePaul University, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin). JCCC team members in addition to Ross and Van Hoecke are Brandy Schmitz, Donnie Hicks, Sarah Taylor, Jason Beury, Calvin Baumgarten, Olga Bodan, Adam Drovetta, Jessica Seitter, and Phillip Wolff. In addition, JCCC team members worked as staff for the Mid-West Model United Nations conference. Brandon Bezner was the Chair of the General Assembly Second Committee: Economic and Financial. These Mid-West Model United Nations conference awards cap over three years of success for JCCC, during which the team has won awards at all of the last eleven conferences they have attended. The JCCC Model UN team will next attend the National Model United Nations and Leadership Conference in New York held at the United Nations April 4-9, 2009 where they will represent the country of Kenya. This conference is an exceptional educational opportunity for JCCC students and a chance to highlight the school’s academic excellence.

MODEL UN TEAM RECEIVED INTERNATIONAL AWARD 

 

The Johnson County Community College Model United Nations team was named the Distinguished Delegation for its portrayal of Canada at the National Model United Nations Conference held Nov. 25-28 in Xi’an, China. The award was voted on by the committee chairs, National Collegiate Conference Association and Northwestern Polytechnical University, X’ian. The China conference was the first international NMUN conference, which included student participants from around the world. The conference was organized in cooperation with NPU, a JCCC partner school. Six JCCC students comprised the team: Danny Eakins, Stilwell; Lowell Fletcher, Nida Fatima, Mick Larson and Trent Justin Brining, Overland Park; and Lois Grimshaw, Olathe, and team adviser, Andrea Vieux, adjunct assistant professor, political science, Lawrence. Students represented Canada on the following committees and issues: Fletcher and Eakins on the General Assembly Plenary committee covering the issues Economic Development and Regional Cooperation and Preventing Armed Conflict in the International Community; Fatima and Grimshaw on the Economic and Social Council Plenary committee covering the issues of Promotion of Food Security and Technology and Economic Development; and Brining and Larson on the Special Session on Global Warming committee on issues of Economic Development and Its Impact on the Environment and Global Warming and the Effect on Biodiversity. In the last three years, students in the JCCC U.N. team have won awards at the last 10 conferences they have attended. This achievement places JCCC among the best college or university U.N. programs in the country. In recognition, the JCCC team received a one-time Special Recognition award in fall 2007 for its outstanding performance during the last academic year presented by the United Nations Association, Greater Kansas City Chapter, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. JCCC was invited to participate in the national conference by NPU in Xi’an because of its partnership with JCCC and by the NMUN because of the team’s achievements during the past three years. The country assignment shows that the JCCC team is well respected because of Canada’s importance on the world stage. Model United Nations allows students to understand the international issues at the United Nations and at the same time build skills in public speaking and diplomacy. The issues discussed range from peace-keeping and human rights to economic development and the plight of children. JCCC team members write position paper on each of the issues. Conferences help students to further understand global issues and international relations. This forum allows students to discuss global concerns in an atmosphere that is similar to that of the United Nations. JCCC was one of only four community colleges among the international universities that competed in the conference. 

 

The students posted video to YouTube to record their experiences in China. The URLs are 

 

Final Day:

 

 

Day 4:

 

 

 

Day 3:

 

 

 

Day 2:

 

 

 

Day 1: