Students, parents and teachers pose in New York

At its May 24 meeting, the Pasadena City Council recognized PUSD teacher Joe Salas and the twenty-three student members of the Wilson International Baccalaureate Middle School Model U.N. team.

“It looks to me that this community has something wonderful going here,” remarked Mayor Bill Bogaard, reacting to the presentation.

Three of the students – Marley Stewart, Tenaya Senzaki, and Olivia Broslawsky – won Honorable Mention recognition in New York after engaging in nine-hour debates on science and international issues,  Salas told the Councilmembers.
 
“They can run for City Council when they turn eighteen; other contenders will have tough competition, as these young minds are some of the best debaters and know international and domestic issues better than they know what’s on their iPods®,” said an apparently delighted and proud Joe Salas.

Salas organized the trip and the fundraising effort. The students spent four days in Washington, D.C. before going to New York for four days of debating.

Many of today's national leaders in law, government, business and the arts participated in Model U.N. during their academic careers – from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and former World Court Justice Stephen M. Schwebel to actor Samuel L. Jackson. Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton is a Model U.N. veteran as well.

“This is a direct example of creative thinking and visionary work on part of the administration, myself and the community of Pasadena for cultivating these minds,” said Salas, who organized the trip and the raised money to fund it.

“These are some of the brightest minds in Pasadena Unified School District. They will become leaders in whatever they do,” he proclaimed.

“Coming from the … richest country in the world, they have to be more erudite and diplomatic in whatever they say and do, and they have learned a mass of these skills as a Model U.N. Team,” he said.

“We did the global AIDS crisis, and represented Armenia,” said Tania Senzacki, one of the three scholars. “We went to the actual U.N. building and competed with delegates from all over the country and the world. We also competed with representatives from Ghana and our [committee resolution] was the only one that passed out of the four.”

Marley Stewart represented Japan and spoke specifically on the Crisis at Darfur, Sudan. He said that his team had to expand their representation to take into consideration the country as a whole and truly understand what people are suffering.

“We were also able to debate with representatives from Sudan, so it actually did give us a much better viewpoint,” said Stewart in explaining his endeavors as a part of the Model U.N. Team in more detail.

A unique simulation of the U.N. General Assembly and other multilateral bodies, the popularity of Model U.N. continues to grow with over 200,000 high school and college/university students worldwide participating each year.

Salas says the other student team members who went on the trip are Alexia Hernandez, Adrian Trevino, Rachel Ofili, Brittany Tran, Arie Gurnie-Allen, Winnesha Towns, Princess Baldivia Amontos, A.J. Rebello, Amanda Strauss, Karen Lai, Imani Lee, Carin Ragland, Garrett Araki, Noah White, Salvador Valenzuela, Samantha Lopez, Billie Rude, Ivanna Lizano, Araz Hachadourian, Evelyn Danwing, Meghan Ong, Lesly Galeana, Talar Keosyan, Phung Do, and Denise Henry.