I’m in the lobby of 39 Dalton Street in Boston, the cavernous Sheraton Hotel, and while TV screens around me crawl with reminders of the space shuttle Challenger disaster (25 years ago today) and anti-government protesters clashing in Egypt (25 minutes ago today), the vast but sedate space is beginning to wake up with 3000 high school students from the 58th Session of the Harvard Model United Nations.
For the last few months 15 Derryfield students have prepared for this moment. Specifically, beginning at noon on Thursday and going to Sunday afternoon, our students will represent Bosnia-Herzegovina.
At the opening session last night, keynote speaker Gillian Sorensen (senior advisor at the Model United Nations Foundation) said that since its inception, the United Nations has been a place where realism and idealism meet. Her insight reminded me of my favorite description of the best schools – a place that balances the world that is, and the world that ought to be.
Mrs Sorensen urged the students to embrace an increasingly intertwined world. “Globalization is a reality,” she said. We can’t turn back, and therefore we should lead.”
How relevant is the United Nations? At the moment, she said, it is sheltering over 35 million refugees. At the same time, the UN feeds on average 19 million hungry children every day. The numbers are truly staggering.
* * *
It is now 10am in the Sheraton lobby and well-dressed, focused teenagers using phrases like “unmoderated caucus” or “delegate decorum” walk by. Yesterday’s program ended at 11:45p, and the student’s curfew was 12:30a. Tonight (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) the curfew will also be 12:30a. Our students will get on the bus Sunday with equal parts exhaustion and elation. Through their hard work, preparation and smart presence, they will have represented Derryfield very well.
My gratitude for the Derryfield adult advisors accompanying our students goes beyond words.
Onward to peaceful conflict resolution!
