ARMUN - Arlington Regional Model UN

04/25/2018

See https://www.yourarlington.com/search/news-archive/371-schools/14325-model-un-042518what some of our high school club students spent their weekend doing in early April. . .

04/24/2018

Two of our students, 8th graders Juliette Ortiz & Maya Krishnan, took a stand this afternoon in a controversy that has been happening in town over the wearing of costumes in the "Colonial Day" Celebration in 3rd grade in the elementary schools in the elementary schools throughout the Arlington Public Schools. A number of individuals had raised the issue to the APS Administration that this wearing of Colonial costumes put children who were of ethnic and racial minorities in the situation where they were having to wear the costume of the White Colonial Oppressor and pretend that the racial and ethnic minority they are part of did not even exist, or that if they are economically less well off they may not even be able to participate -- regardless of race or ethnicity -- and be left out and feel ashamed or alienated by the costume wearing. So the Administration decided that this spring there would be no costume wearing at any school, but Colonial Day with the candle making and butter churning and game playing etc. would otherwise go on as usual, and this summer a task force would convene to consider the elements of Colonial Day that parents and teachers considered important and the need to include those and also have the day be a day that was a culturally respectful and historically appropriate to be enacting with the students event. But a number of parents, and other adults, in our community, seemed to have completely missed the point about the fact that the wearing of costumes was causing pain/harm to children based on their race/ethnicity and class. They went on the TV news and argued that the process had not been inclusive enough of their opinions, and that the day is one that is fun for the students and is an interactive and engaging learning experience and that is mostly parent-run and all these things are somehow supposed to be reasons that the costumes should be allowed still. But none of those reasons make it okay to hurt someone intentionally or when you know you are doing so. And so my students wrote a wonderful letter, and published it and had it widely distributed, knowing it will make them very unpopular, trying to address this and change the debate which was, in the public arena, going very much the way and in favor of the fact that the Colonial Day as it has always been done was so good and was totally pushing aside and ignoring the reality of the very most important argument, and kept saying that "no students have said this was an issue" and that it seems there are just some parents who are manipulating the race and ethnicity card in order to make changes and things like that in order to push the initial reason for the decision aside. So my students courageously decided to be the students to speak up and say it does matter and it is not okay. Here is their letter. Please give them some positive feedback, as they are sure going to get plenty of negative feedback from peers at the middle school this week.

Two letters expressing differing views about Colonial Days in the Arlington Public School;s.

11/28/2017

The ARMUN team is headed to YALE!

Eleven years ago, Kim Holt founded the Arlington Regional Model UN (ARMUN), the first civic engagement programming of its kind in the region, as a volunteer. She continues to work tirelessly today, guiding her students in the world of public affairs and debate.

This fall, Kim had faith in her students and applied for a limited number of delegates to attend a rigorous four day conference coming up on January 18th-21st, 2018 at the Yale University campus. The hard work is paying off because six eighth graders and six high school students were selected to represent the club while debating as if they were delegates from nations all over the globe. Just some of the wide-ranging topic assignments are: Economics and Finance; Disarmament and International Security; and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Three students were chosen for application-only appointments - a very prestigious honor!

The first step to making this happen was getting in, but now comes the toughest part: paying for it all! Our team was fortunate enough to receive a partial cost offset from the "Breaking Boundaries Scholarship" which, according to the Yale website, "is given to a domestic school who has never attended YMUN, may need the financial support, and would add infinitely to the conference experience as a whole."

That was almost $1400 shaved off the total expenses! WOW!
ARMUN Middle School Team at the Massachusetts State House before the first debate of the 2017-2018 season.
But there's a long way to go!

The estimated transportation, meals, lodging, remaining entry costs, and incidentals leave our Model UN Club with over $3000 still to raise to make our trip a success.

Please consider making a donation to sponsor us today. For every donation of the following amounts, you will receive:

$5 or more: a thank you email from our Coach, Kim Holt.
$25 or more: a personal written thank you from a student attending the trip, Bronze Sponsor recognition.
$50 or more: Facebook and webpage Silver Sponsor recognition, thank you card from the team.
$100 or more: Facebook and webpage Gold Sponsor recognition, team photo from Yale Debates.
$250 or more: Facebook and webpage Platinum Sponsor recognition, opportunity to attend a coaching session with the students headed to Yale, article with profile on sponsor submitted for publication with Arlington Advocate and other sources.
All Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum level sponsors: will be thanked by name and/or business affiliation in at least one Arlington Patch article to be published at a later date.

Donate Here!
Legal Disclaimer:
Contributions to ARMUN are not tax deductible as ARMUN is an unincorporated community club organization, rather than an officially recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Please check out our page and Website for more information about our activities!
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10/31/2017

Today, 13 ARMUN Middle School Students attended the United Nations Association of Greater Boston's UN Day Model UN Simulation at the Massachusetts State House, and before the event Senator Cindy Friedman met with the students. We also met with Derek and Ryan, the Aides to Rep. Sean Garballey who had called first thing this morning to let us know that he was going to have to miss us because he would be in Arlington all day helping deal with the storm damage from last night. And then Rep. Jonathan Hecht and Sen. Will Brownsberger also came and spent time with us too. A wonderful visit to the State House this afternoon!

10/03/2017

The middle school club is off to a busy season already, with 12 students attending a UN Day Mini Conference at the State House on October 30, another group participating in a team building and creative problem solving day at the MIT Edgerton Science Center on November 13 (spaces still available for this), and we are starting our preparations for our major fall conference at this point as well -- the United Nations Association of Greater Boston's Middle School Model UN Conference on December 2. The students are quite enthusiastic and engaged and our very large group this fall is off and running in a terrific way.

10/03/2017

The high school club is busy preparing to attend the brown university simulation of the United Nations nov 10-12 in providence, ri on the brown university campus. We just received our committee assignments so stay tuned for some updates on the interesting things we are learning and doing as we prep for this internationally ranked conference.

09/28/2017

The Clubs are off to a great start this fall and hope that any student in 5th -9th grade who is interested in our Middle School Model UN & Civic Engagement Club will get in touch, and that any high school student interested in our Model UN, Civic Engagement & UNICEF High School Club will likewise contact us right away -- there is still time to get involved! To get in touch email [email protected].

12/12/2016

The High School Model UN Club attended the 20th session of the Brown University Simulation of the UN from Nov 11-13, where they had a great time participating in challenging committee debate. They are now hard at work preparing to participate in BOSMUN in mid-February.

12/12/2016

Congratulations to the 6 ARMUN middle schoolers who participated in the DiMUN Invitational, crisis conference for the award winners of the November UNAGB conference, and an extra shout out to the student who received the Best Public Speaker Award. Great job all of you!

12/12/2016

Congratulations to the 11 Middle School ARMUN students who participated in the United Nations Association of Greater Boston's Middle School Model UN Conference on Nov 19, and an extra shout out to the 4 students who won awards at this conference. Great job all of you.

12/12/2016

The middle and high school club members and their families held a very successful craft and coffee sale to benefit the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City Project (El Salvador) Saturday afternoon. Great job everyone!