MCC – Fall 2014 Model UN Course – We have Sierra Leone

Muskegon Community College will represent the West African nation of Sierra Leone at the 2014 Model UN Conference in Chicago at the Sheraton Inn Hotel and Towers November 22 to 25, 2014. I am the professor, or more accurately the coach of Team Sierra Leone.

The course and trip to Chicago in November will be fun! And on the way we are going to learn a whole lot about the world. Model UN has been around for awhile. What it does is mimic the actions of the United Nations with college students from all over the United States. Teams of approximately ten students each from various colleges represent each of the nation states at the U.N at the Chicago Conference. Currently, 121 colleges are signed up to participate. Take a look – these are the students who you will meet, live with, and debate for three days next November. Minnesota and Maine, Texas and Arizona – and little ole Muskegon Community College – we’ll all be working together to awaken to issues of the world.

The course meets once a week on Thursday evenings and is all about our preparation for the November Conference. That study will be two-fold. One – we learn all that we can about Sierra Leone. And on this note we are lucky that MCC professor, Papa N’jai hails from Sierra Leone. Papa is a great guy and always willing to share stories of his life and his home. Secondly, we will learn about procedure and parliamentary rules at the United Nations, in addition to institution itself. The United Nations was established in 1945 to promote international co-operation at its founding had 53 charter member states. Today that number is 193. The United Nations is located in New York City. Parliamentary rules deal with debate and discussion in such an institution. I think if you are considering law or debate – this will be a valuable course for you – for this reason alone.

Think of us as a team. We are Team Sierra Leone. There is so much to learn about Sierra Leone, about West Africa. I’ve traveled to Mali, a neighbor of Sierra Leone. The way the conference is structured we will become quite familiar with neighboring West African states – as it stands now looking at the conference list – expect that we will work closely with kids from Guinea (University of Missouri), Burkino Faso (University of Arizona) , Ghana (St Ambrose University), Liberia (Carthage College), Mali (Missouri State) and Nigeria (Johnson County Community College). That should be fun.

Specifically – start learning about Sierra Leone. Begin to familiarize yourself with the challenges of Sierra Leone and all of West Africa. Two issues that are currently vital to the region – #1 is the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram which kidnapped 300 girls because they were studying at Western school, is not limited to the nation state of Nigeria. Neighboring West African nations are nervous about the instability it brings to the region. Also, the ebola virus is currently spreading in West Africa…the ebola outbreak which is lethal and could be catastrophic to the region is centered in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Angelina Mosher (video above) graduate of OHS 2009 and MSU’s James Madison College 2013. Angelina majored in Arabic Studies and Comparative Cultures and Politics. She is currently teaching in Cairo, Egypt. She dual enrolled at MCC as an OHS junior and senior. Her first foray into political science and college was this Model UN class at MCC. In the video above she talks a bit about her experience with Model UN. Feel free to contact her at am0913@icloud.com if you have any questions concerning the course.

Or contact me – bobwoodmsu@gmail.com / (616) 402-8668. To learn more about me….go here.

So, sign up for the course, and educate yourself about the challenges of life in West Africa, and the history and current situation in the state of Sierra Leone. And prepare to have a great time with our MCC team and students from around the country, in Chicago in November.

Thanks…Mr Wood.

Course information: