During this week, my group and I traveled to Durango's local soup kitchen (Manna). Our project for the week was to collect as much information regarding the "Backpack Program" and it's effectiveness in as many schools as possible to better support and feed students and their families who are food insecure on the weekends. The Backpack program in essence is a system that allows any student, whether on the free and reduced lunch program or not, to receive a bag filled with canned goods, pasta and snacks at the end of the week from their school councilor to bring home to their families on the weekend. The program is aimed towards students who are food insecure, however anyone can have access to the bags. Our objective was to interview several people including teachers, councilors and nutritionists from different elementary, middle and high schools in the area to get a better idea of how the program was impacting students, how effective it was, and what we could do to better improve it. My main job was taking notes on a google doc during interviews, and writing up summaries for those notes. I learned a lot about society, stigmas and food insecurities during this week. I was shocked by how many people in our town lack the ability or money to access food. As someone who has been very lucky and always had plenty to eat, I had never really considered that people in my own town, let alone my own school were hungry every day for reasons beyond their control. I have had the privilege of traveling internationally to Africa, and seen the starving and impoverished children on the streets in the slums of Nairobi, but the idea that people went through something like this to a lesser extent around me every day was a huge eye opener. The experience I had interviewing nutritionists and counselors at nine different schools [elementary, middle and high schools] and even receiving my free lunch at Manna in the same room as people who depended on that meal primarily to fill them every day has changed the way I view society in regard to hunger and poverty. Simply from participating in POL’s, I learned how to interview and ask impactful questions. This was very helpful when we were interviewing the schools. My presentation and social skills in general have become a lot stronger since the beginning of the school year, mainly because of all of the projects we do which made it much easier to talk to the interviewees, and to make phone calls to organize appointments. In Humanities, we have taken an abundance of notes, and have had to write up papers and essays based off of them. Therefore, it was very easy for me to take notes during the interviews, and to write concise summaries. The time that I was working most efficiently and effectively was when I was asking questions and taking notes for the interviews. I was able to get dialed in, and get a lot of notes taken. However, I had some difficulty staying focussed though when we had to sit down and actually write up and organize the information and data that we collected. I think that the longer amount of time we were given during the day to work, the more that I procrastinated and simply found it difficult to focus on getting the work done. I’ve been struggling with my time management all year, and it would have been beneficial if I could discipline myself to simply use the time that I’m given as effectively as possible. That isn’t to say that I did nothing during the time we were given to work, I simply found myself getting off task and distracted very easily fairly often. There were a few connections that I found between my aptitudes in the YouScience program, and how I behaved in real life. One of them was my “diagnostic problem solving” capability. I can draw conclusions, and begin to brainstorm solutions based off of them. This skill became helpful when we were interviewing nutritionists and counselors at the schools, and we had to think of questions to ask on the spot that were both relevant and helpful. According to YouScience, I am also a sequential thinker, meaning that I can easily organize ideas and concepts in my mind, and create effective systems that don’t currently exist, or make systems more efficient and practical. This also proved to be true and helpful since we were basically recreating the backpack program in schools. I was able to provide realistic and helpful ideas to our group in order to make the program more efficient and effective. My biggest piece of advice for the new sophomores is that they should choose a project that they are genuinely interested in. They shouldn’t choose a project only because their friends are doing it, or if they feel pressures to do it. It’s called “inspiration” week because the project is supposed to spark an interest. I also think that it’s critical to go into the project with a positive mental attitude, and a readiness to work and get things done. To get the most out of the week, you really have to put in your full effort.
Model United Nations: The Nuclear Weapon Issue
For our second Model United Nations project, we spent several more weeks studying the issue of nuclear weapons, in the world in order to be prepared for our conference on Friday, February 7th. The research we did was in regard to nuclear-nonproliferation, disarmament, and how to go about taking actions towards both of those in the perspective of the country we represented.
Reflection: The United Nations is such a complex and sophisticated organization, that in months, we barely touched the tip of the iceberg of everything that it is responsible for. However, from what I have learned thus far, I think that the UN does their very best, the majority of the time in order to please the majority of the world's people. However, as I represented Russia, I can say that it was unfair that I had so much power. While I understand that it is important for there to be a leader in large organizations, I think that it’s clear that they can, and have taken advantage of their power. I think that in organizations like the United Nations, it’s crucial for every country to do their part, and cooperate. I think one of the biggest areas of growth for me during this conference was the extra experience I gained. In our first conference, I wasn’t completely sure what was going on, and I had to improvise quite a lot during our conference. However in this second one, I felt much more prepared mentally, and with my materials. I had every piece of evidence and paper that I needed, ie. my policy paper, my printed speech, my notes etc. During the preparation for this conference, I was able to put my procrastination to its fullest, and most beneficial state. That’s not to say that I didn’t get any work done until the last minute; the work that I did get done in class was quality, and something I’m proud of. However, the night before the conference I wrote, and rewrote my entire speech, and prepared all of my notes and papers that I would use to refer to during my conference, all within an hour. Perhaps that is simply because I have had the tendency to procrastinate a bit in the past, but I was really able to focus in when the time came, and get things done as quickly and efficiently as I could, while still having a neat and quality result. This project specifically: the issue of Nuclear Weapons in the world, has been an incredibly big eye opener for me. I live every day worrying about the little things, and the things that only affect me, when the inevitability of the entire world spontaneously detonating at any moment is frighteningly high. If anything, this research project has given me the awareness of the world’s situation regarding nuclear weapons, and the wisdom that, hey; we’re not going to live forever. Obviously every day that we are alive, there is a possibility of us never making it back to our families, but nuclear war simply adds to the list of ways that we could die. And while that’s a frightening reality, it also forces us to look at each day as a gift. We aren’t promised eternity, or even tomorrow, but we are promised right now. The way we live, the people we hang out with, the things we do and say; they’re all temporary. But if we are happy with those things, then that’s all that matters; As long as we keep in mind that it’s quite possible that Trump just said something extremely offensive about Kim Jon-un, and the world could be ending within 8 minutes. There’s a lot that I would change from this past semester that has had an impact on my learning. I think that my attitude towards the nuclear project could have been a lot more open and positive for one. From the beginning, I had a very rigid opinion on the issue of nuclear weapons, and until the very end, it was quite unwavering. I wish that I had opened my mind more to the positive possibilities of nuclear weapons, so that I could see Russia’s (my country’s) perspective better. I would also have used my class time infinitely more efficiently. Throughout this project until the night before the conference, I felt myself slipping into old habits from last year, that I want to ban for the rest of my life. Getting distracted and off task has done absolutely nothing for me, except waste my time. I think that I could have done a lot better in the conference if I had made this simple change. For the rest of this semester I would really like to keep myself focused and interested in what we are learning in order to get the most out of it.
Policy Paper: Although they have had a negative reputation in the past regarding the Nuclear issue, the Russian Federation gives Nuclear non-proliferation and Nuclear disarmament its full support, under the condition that every other Nuclear country, particularly the United States, fully cooperates and fulfills their obligations under each and every agreement and treaty created in association with Nuclear regulation. Nuclear weapons have been an ongoing issue since 1945 when the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima (Arms Control Association). Since then, numerous treaties and agreements have been created, including the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which Russia, and 190 other states have signed. The NPT however has objectives and challenges of its own, including non- proliferation, regulation of nuclear energy, and the issue of nuclear disarmament (challenges). Nuclear disarmament specifically has caused a great deal of controversy within the United nations, as to whether or not it should be enforced, and how to go about doing that. In 2003, North Korea withdrew from the NPT, and has continued to create and test weapons as they please (North Korea.) Russia believes that total cooperation with all the nuclear countries would be the most beneficial step towards nuclear disarmament. In 2010, Russia stated that they were “ fully committed to reaching the goal of a world free from these most deadly weapons” (Disarmament.) Because the US has withdrawn from so many treaties, Russia feels less than inclined to continue the disarmament without their cooperation. One of the most impactful solutions that Russia has come across doesn’t enforce any drastic changes, but instead simply brings back older, or even obsolete treaties. Russia wants to continue to play a role in the NPT, and especially disarmament by first resuming the treaties that the US, or Russia themselves have withdrawn from. For example, “Russia committed to disposing of 34 metric tons of excess plutonium, beginning in 2018, under a 2000 agreement with the United States entitled the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA)” (Proliferation). However, the US wasn’t following through with their obligations under that treaty, and therefore caused Russia to withdraw. In another instance, Russia and the US signed the Intermediate Range Forces treaty, and both countries were following through with their obligations under that treaty. However, in 2019, both countries' commitment to the treaty began to dwindle, and “ on Aug. 2, the United States formally withdrew from the INF Treaty” (Proliferation). Russia would like to sign these treaties, and many more with the US in order to continue the path towards complete disarmament. In the end, what Russia wants to see most is every country doing their part along the way in order to keep the process of non-proliferation, disarmament and the regulation of nuclear energy fair and efficient.
Works Cited Erlich, Reese. “Nuclear Disarmament: The View from Moscow.” The Nation, 7 June 2019, www.thenation.com/article/inf-trump-putin-pompeo-lavrov/. of Russia, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and. “Russia in the Process of Nuclear Disarmament.” Посольство России в Великобритании, 2012, www.rusemb.org.uk/rpnd/. Macfarquhar, Neil. “Threatening U.S., Putin Promises Russians Both Missiles and Butter.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/world/europe/russia-missile-threat.html. Federation, Russian. “Fact Sheets & Briefs.” Arms Control and Proliferation Profile: Russia | Arms Control Association, 0AD, www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/russiaprofile. States, Unites. “Fact Sheets & Briefs.” Arms Control and Proliferation Profile: The United States | Arms Control Association, 0AD, www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/UnitedStatesprofile. NTI, NTI. “Current Issues and Challenges.” Nuclear Threat Initiative, 0AD, tutorials.nti.org/npt-tutorial/current-issues-and-challenges/.
Model United Nations: The Venezuelan Crisis
For this project, we spent several weeks learning about how the UN works, a specific country and the crisis which is currently taking place in Venezuela. In Venezuela, the government and economy is in free fall. I chose to represent Russia, which had a very strong opinion on the Venezuelan crisis. The final product was a Model United Nations conference that debated the issue in Venezuela.
Russia Policy Paper Although Venezuela is in the midst of an economic and humanitarian crisis that has caused millions of people to flee, it is not the fault of the President Maduro, or his government. Venezuela’s economy has been in a free-fall since 2013. Oil production which is Venezuela’s main source of income, went down from 2.4 million to 1.3 million barrels a day, and over 4 million Venezuelans have fled the economic crisis to bordering countries (Reuters 1). These numbers aren’t meaningless, and because of the Nation’s corruption, Venezuelan’s have been killed, starved, and terminated with their mothers pre birth. The economic crisis can be held accountable for the famine which is increasing rates of malnutrition, undernourishment, growth retardation, chronic diseases and many other health issues (Praag 4). Furthermore, the healthcare sector in Venezuela is crumbling with 70% of the medical imports decreased, and 85% of the crucial medications are nearly nonexistent (Praag 5). As for security in Venezuela; there were 81.4 violent homicidal deaths per 100,000 people, leading the entire region as the most violent country. Meanwhile, the US states that it “[Support] all initiatives aimed at reaching a political solution amongst Venezuelans to the current situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including the Montevideo Mechanism, through a genuine and inclusive process of national dialogue” (Council 1). It is ironic however that it is the US who wants to change the Venezuelan government; as it is their fault that Venezuela fell into such a deep economic hole because of their tightening of sanctions. “The overall damage caused by the US to Venezuela’s economy since 2013 is estimated hundreds of billion USD worth” (Nebenzia). Therefore, the US has no place to set laws or even movements in Venezuela, as it is pure hypocaracy. Maduro has Russia’s complete and total support in the reparation of his government through the framework of the Venezuelan constitution (Nebenzia). No external nation should try to assist Venezuela without their total consent either, as they have already caused enough damage to the political and economic system. Russia stands with Maduro and wants to help to peacefully settle disputes, and to help Venezuela regain its footing fairly and properly.
12/8/19 Model United Nations Reflection I have learned quite a bit after spending several the last severe weeks studying the Model United Nations, Russia, and the Venezuelan crisis. I think the most interesting part was actually modeling what the UN does during a council meeting. I also really liked that we were able to choose the country that we wanted to study and represent. Throughout this project, I have learned, or rather experienced more of the effects of procrastination. By the end of the project, I decided that I needed to start getting things done before the last minute in order to have a satisfactory outcome. I have definitely gained a lot of knowledge around how the United Nations works, and how different every country is in economy and views and the people themselves. I felt that I prepared sufficiently for the council meeting. That is the night before. As usual, I decided to wait until the night before to write my speech, do last minute research, and look up what “sanctions” were and why I (Russia) was supposed to think they were such a bad thing. After hours of work that I could have and certainly should have gotten done in class, I felt ready for the council. All in all, I had a written speech which I had practiced reading and timed several times, all of my paperwork neatly set in my folder and a decent outfit to wear for the council the next day. I believe that my performance in the meeting reflected my amount of knowledge and preparation pretty well. In the conference to come in the future, I definitely need to work on time management and terminating or at least limiting my bad habit of procrastinating. Something that has helped me focus is working in the inclusion department down the hall, alone where I can’t be distracted. My policy paper was not very strong, and I should have spent more time and put more thought into it. It did not share all of the views of Russia, and it wasn't totally accurate either. I would also like to simply be more prepared next time, and get more information on the topic.