Four Queens Journalism Prep Students Participate in Key Briefing by UN Secretary-General

NEW YORK – High school students from World Journalism Preparatory (WJP) will attend a briefing today with top United Nations officials today as they attend a briefing of the Security Council by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The students are participants in the United Nations Association of the USA’s (UNA-USA) Global Classrooms® Model UN program, which helps students build skills in research, writing, and critical thinking so that they can develop as global citizens.

Ban will brief members of the Security Council on global efforts to secure nuclear materials and curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology. Rita Cinquemani, Julian Oddo, Nicole Valencia, and Andrew Villa – all of from WJP in Queens, N.Y., will participate in a student press conference with 37 local children in the audience and 19 other students from 11 UN Security Council Member States via Direct Video Conferencing. They will send a report to their instructors about the day.

 

“These four Global Classrooms students are gaining a rare first person insight into the UN and how it works,” said UNA-USA Executive Director Patrick Madden. “Taking part in this briefing is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will help these four students expand and enrich their experience in the field of international diplomacy.”

 

The event comes less than a month before 2,500 students, 300 teachers, and 140 schools across the country convene at UN Headquarters to participate in the annual Global Classrooms International Model UN Conference. Global Classrooms Model UN has amazed schools around the globe with its ability to cultivate global literacy, life skills, and attitudes necessary for active citizenship, showing that students deeply care about the world outside their local community. To learn more about the program, please visit www.unausa.org/globalclassrooms, and watch UNA-USA’s Model UN documentary Decorum at www.unausa.org/decorum.

 

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MORE ON UNA-USA
The United Nations Association of the United   States of America (UNA-USA), a program of the UN Foundation, is a membership organization dedicated to inform, inspire and mobilize the American people to support the principles and vital work of the United Nations. UNA-USA works to accomplish its mission through its national network of chapters, advocacy efforts, education programs, and public events. UNA-USA and the UN Foundation create the single largest network of advocates and supporters of the United Nations in the world. For more information on UNA-USA, visit www.unausa.org.

 

MORE ON GLOBAL CLASSROOMS
Global Classrooms is UNA-USA’s innovative educational program that engages middle school and high school students in an exploration of current world issues through interactive simulations and curricular materials. Global Classrooms cultivates literacy, life skills and the attitudes necessary for active citizenship. For more information on Global Classrooms, visit www.unausa.org/globalclassrooms.