Sir Winston Churchill High School Model UN (SWCHSMUN)

SWCHSMUN Committee Topics

SWCHSMUN — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:08:47 +0000

Here are some of the topics that will be covered by the various committees at SWCHSMUN 2013:

GA 1 DISEC:

Women, Peace and Security
Children and Armed Conflict
Nuclear Proliferation

IAEA:

Preventing Nuclear Disasters
Dealing with Nuclear Waste
Development of Nuclear Programs and Inspections

HRC:

Drone Warfare
Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Child Soldiers

The Futuristic Security Council (FSC) is a crisis committee with an open agenda. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be a crisis committees and will generally have an open agenda. Two topics that may be addressed in the CDC committee are bioterrorism and pandemic preparedness.

We will also be having a Joint Crisis Committee (JCC) with the United States National Security Council (USNSC) and the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (PCPC) facing off against one another. These committees will have to deal with domestic and foreign issues.

Dates for SWCHSMUN 2013

SWCHSMUN — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:40:18 +0000

The third annual SWCHSMUN conference will be held on the Sir Winston Churchill High School campus in Calgary on October 25-26, 2013. We look forward to hosting schools from around the province of Alberta (and perhaps high schools from neighboring provinces and states). We are beginning to prepare for this event already. This week, we will begin choosing the staff positions for SWCHSMUN, so please keep checking the website for updates on the conference. Once again, we will have 7 innovative committees at SWCHSMUN, including:

Human Rights Council (HRC)
GA 1 DISEC
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); this will be a crisis committee
Futuristic Security Council (FSC) set in the year 2033
International Atomic Energy Administration (IAEA)
US National Security Council (USNSC) vs. the Politburo of the Comuunist Party of China (PCPC) joint crisis committee

We’re looking forward to seeing you in October!

Thanks!

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 02:50:05 +0000

I’d like to thank all of the teachers from participating schools: Central Memorial, Forest Lawn, St. Francis, Sir Winston Churchill, Webber Academy, Western Canada, Westmount Charter, Westwood Community High School, and W.R. Meyers. I applaud all of your teachers for being so organized at the beginning of the Model UN season to make the weekend possible. I’d like to thank Ms. Corinna Dootjes, and Mr. David MacGregor, the other Model UN club sponsors of Churchill’s Model UN team, and organizers of SWCHSMUN. I’d like to thank all of the members in the Youth Volunteer Corps for acting as pages for the conference, your help during registration and dinner was greatly appreciated. I’d like to thank all the delegates who participated in SWCHSMUN for your enthusiasm, for your patience when we had technical issues. I’d also like to thank all of the staff members of SWCHSMUN: Sharanya, Bhagya, Derek, Allison, Carol, Tiffany, Olayinka, Sophia, Srinjoy, Christine, Daniel C., William, Anish, Alice, Ashley, Akshay, Mark, Andrew, Daniel K., Eugenia and Sadiya. I think you did a great job running your committees! I’d also like to thank Anish, Austin, and David (I may have missed some people, and if so, I apologize) for putting together the movie trailer that we showed at the end of the conference. As you can see, we’re already planning next year’s version of SWCHSMUN. The committees at SWCHSMUN 2013 will be:

Human Rights Council (HRC)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; this will be a crisis committee)
United States National Security Council (USNSC) vs. the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (PCPC); these will be joint crisis committees
GA 1 DISEC
Futuristic Security Council (FSC) set in 2033

We’re really looking forward to next year’s conference, and we hope to see you again at next year!

We also have some items that were left behind in some of the classrooms, such as high top sneakers left behind in the USNSC committee room, a power charger for a Mac. If you left anything behind, please contact me at Churchill (krgilchrist@cbe.ab.ca), and we’ll make arrangements to get your property returned to you.

One Day Until SWCHSMUN 2012

SWCHSMUN — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:18:18 +0000

Actually, it’s less than one day until the start of our Model UN conference SWCHSMUN. Our conference staff are really excited to get this year’s conference underway.

Please make sure that you bring a laptop, iPad, smartphone or some other digital device to this year’s conference, as students will have access to our wireless network. It is strongly encouraged that participants in the USNSC bring a laptop as all participants in that committee will have their own e-mail accounts set up for the people that they are portraying in the crisis.

Please make sure that you print off and bring a copy of the Delegate Preparation Manual to the conference. Inside this manual there’s a map of the Churchill campus, as well as rules and procedures for the conference, and advice on writing resolutions. Make sure that you have a copy of your committee’s Background Guide too. You should also bring note paper, and maybe Post-Its too (they are a nice size for writing notes to other delegates). Please make sure that you understand the Schedule for the conference as well. Registration starts at 2 p.m. in the Main Foyer. See you tomorrow!!

Awards at SWCHSMUN

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 04:30:32 +0000

For all of the committees at SWCHSMUN, the committee staff will determine the award winners. Best Delegate award winners (1st place) will receive gavels in the following committees: GA 1 DISEC, UNODC, UNICEF, NATO and USNSC. Since the UN Security Council allows for double delegations the top prize in UNSC will be a Best Delegation award. We are also awarding Best Large Delegation and Best Small Delegation awards again this year. These awards are for the 1st place delegations based on size. Large Delegations must represent countries that have 4-5 delegates, whereas Small Delegations must represent countries that have 2-3 delegates. The 2nd place awards for delegations are Most Outstanding Small Delegation and Most Outstanding Large Delegation. Committee staff may also award delegates with Verbal Commendations.

Rule Changes at SWCHSMUN 2012

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 04:19:54 +0000

The major rule change that participants in last year’s Model UN conference will notice is that for SWCHSMUN 2012 delegates are allowed to use smartphones, iPads, laptops or any other digital device during committee sessions. Churchill’s wireless network will be made available to students during the course of the conference. Of course, delegates are expected to use these devices purposefully and responsibly. The parliamentary pages that are assigned to each committee will ensure that delegates are not visiting inappropriate websites during committee (ex. Facebook) or playing games. Committee staff will still require delegates to write resolutions by hand. The rationale behind having delegates create hand written resolutions is to prevent delegates from bringing pre-written resolutions into committee sessions. Pre-written resolutions are not allowed at SWCHSMUN. All resolutions will be sent to the Situation Room to be typed, and SWCHSMUN staffers will submit resolutions to an anti-plagiarism website.

Participants in the U.S. National Security Council (USNSC) are required to bring a laptop to committee sessions. If you do not own a laptop, please have your Model UN teacher sponsor contact the Secretary General of SWCHSMUN Kevin Gilchrist (krgilchrist@cbe.ab.ca) and we will provide you with one for USNSC committee sessions. All members of USNSC have had a Gmail account created for their character. We’re attempting to have a paperless committee in USNSC. Delegates will be able to use Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) during the committee sessions and send notes via G-Chat.

The Situation in Syria in UN Security Council

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:01:37 +0000

On of the topics in the UNSC at SWCHSMUN 2012 allows for an open agenda. This allows for the Security Council Dais to incorporate current global developments into the weekend conference. There’s a high probability that Syria will be a topic of discussion in the UN Security Council at SWCHSMUN. Here’s a link to an article from Fareed Zakaria’s TV show the Global Public Square that discusses the situation in Syria and its impact on neighboring countries.

Which committee are you looking forward to?

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:41:46 +0000

Cluster Munitions in DISEC Committee

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:37:05 +0000

As we move closer towards the start of SWCHSMUN, I will be providing you with additional links and resources to aid you in your preparations for our Model UN conference. An issue that may be addressed at SWCHSMUN in the GA 1 DISEC committee is the usage of cluster munitions. Here are links to two very good websites that deal with this issue:

Both of these websites provide an excellent overview of the problem, potential solutions, and if you dig around their websites just a little bit you’ll be able to find reports that outline your government’s position on the issue as well. Highly recommended!

Child Marriage in UNICEF Committee

SWCHSMUN — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:08:39 +0000

An article that appeared in National Geographic Magazine on child brides inspired me to include a UNICEF committee at SWCHSMUN this year. It is highly recommended that you have a look at this article in your preparations for participation in this committee as well. It will help you understand this complex issue from different perspectives as well. Here is the link to the article on child marriage by Cynthia Gorney as it appeared in the June 2011 issue of National Geographic: Child Brides. There is also a companion documentary film that goes along with the photography of Stephanie Sinclair. I am embedding the film here on the website as well.