Model United Nations team has been a tradition at SJHS for many years. It is supervised by Mr. David Hansen, history teacher at SJHS, and Mrs. Lise Carpenter, science teacher at SJHS. In Model UN, the students represent a country and practice parliamentary procedures to find solutions to certain world issues. Model UN practices every Monday and Friday during Quest Time.
“Model UN is a simulation of the real United Nations,” said Mr. Hansen, “we practice public speaking, research skills, parliamentary procedures, negotiation skills, and communication skills.” This year, the Model UN team is representing the country of Brazil; they will compete at the statewide BYU United Nations competition this year. According to Mr. Hansen, in the past, the junior high’s team has done fairly well, and has even won some awards.
In Model UN we “talk about real-world issues and model the real United Nations,” said Jackson Dozier, ninth-grade student at SJHS. The students have to practice writing certain types of papers, which can often prove difficult due to the required vocabulary and the format for the papers. The students practice researching their topics and writing the different types of papers for two times a week for twenty minutes each time.