We are 16 Arlington 6th–8th grade students from the Arlington Enrichment Collaborative afterschool program and its Roots & Shoots group. On April 4 and 5, we attended the UNA-USA Middle School Model United Nations Conference in New York City, on April 4 and 5th, 2008. We realize what a great opportunity this was and we thank AEC director Kim Holt and our parent chaperones for helping us make the most of it!

We represented the countries of El Salvador, Sudan and the Czech Republic at the conference. In preparation, we spent more than four months researching our countries, the topics to be discussed in our various committees, and the U.N.'s rules of procedure for debate and discussion. We learned a lot about the issues that are important in these countries and the process of moving resolutions through committees at the U.N. read more