More than 100 Shaker Heights Middle School and Woodbury students represented 18 countries at the Ohio Leadership Institute’s Junior Ohio Model UN conference earlier this month.
Two eighth-grade teams wrote resolutions and gave author’s speeches that advanced out of committee to the General Assembly. Several Shaker students also won individual awards (listed below).
Team Resolutions
Team Central African Republic, Witchcraft in the Central African Republic - Elizabeth Brown, Julie Caffrey, Jenna Cahn, Sophie Olsen
Team Papua New Guinea, Reducing Sexual and Domestic Violence – Astrid Braun, Elizabeth Bugenske, Lauren Hertzer, Audrey Himes, Charlotte Lo
Individual Awards
Kevin LaMonica - Outstanding Delegate; Elected Assistant Secretary General for the 2016 conference
Julie Caffrey - Outstanding Leadership
Lincoln Luzar - 1st Place in the Current Events Contest
Lucas de Lima - 2nd Place in the World Problem Solving Contest (Topic: Poverty and Unemployment)
The Junior Model UN Conference leaders created a new award this year to honor the memory of Woodbury teacher Jim Caffrey, who died in January.
Middle School Model UN advisor Mike Sears spoke at the conference about Caffrey, who was a beloved fifth-grade teacher, an enthusiastic sponsor of the Woodbury Model UN club, and a former Model UN participant as a high school and college student.
The Jim Caffrey Outstanding 6th Grade Nation award was given to Pakistan, a group of young students from Wyoming Middle School near Cincinnati. Executive director John Lester asked the Woodbury delegates to stand and thanked them for participating in the conference.
Mike Sears, Jackie Abrams, and Tom Gladish are the club’s advisors.