Global Classrooms in action

Since 2000, UNA-USA's Global Classrooms program has been engaging middle school and high school students by exploring current world issues through interactive simulations and engaging curriculum. The program cultivates literacy and leadership as students explore important topics such as peacekeeping, sustainable development, human rights, and the economics of globalization. At the core of Global Classrooms is Model UN, wherein students step into shoes of UN Ambassadors and debate a range of issues on the UN agenda. Find out more about Global Classrooms at www.globalclassroooms.org.

View the video below, produced by UNA-Minnesota, to see the Global Classrooms program, and Model UN in action.



Global Classrooms is made possible through a dynamic partnership with Merrill Lynch, with the goal of empowering young people from around the world to become active and engaged global citizens. The collaboration between Global Classrooms and Merrill Lynch offers students tangible ways to enhance their understanding of the international economy while they develop global literacy and other important life skills.

Click below to listen to an interview with Dr. Eddy Bayardelle, President of the Merrill Lynch Foundation and Head of Global Philanthropy. Learn more about Merrill Lynch at Global Classrooms at www.unausa.org/mlgcpartnership.

More videos of distinguished speakers at UNA-USA Model UN events across

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• Secretary General Ban-ki Moon addresses students at UNAUSAMUN 2008 at UNHQ
  Secretary General Ban takes student questions   1 | 2 
  
  
• Ban-ki Moon addresses Los Angles students
  
  
• Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte speaks and answeres student questions at the US State Department
  
  
• Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt addresses UNAUSAMUN 2008
  
  
• UNA-USA President Ambassador William Luers addresses students at UNAUSAMUN 2008
  
  
• A great library of U.N. related videos, as well as Student and Faculty related study guides, courtesy of Richland College.
  
  
• Even more UNA-USA videos available here on YouTube

Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan awarded first ever YouTube Visionary Award

This past weekend, YouTube honored Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordon with the first ever YouTube Visionary Award underscoring the global impact of the channel.

“YouTube encourages us to be active participants in a global conversation, making our voices heard, giving us the power to broadcast ourselves, increasing knowledge of each other, breaking down the barriers between us clip by clip,” said Queen Rania.

Queen Rania wasn’t able to make it out there in person, but sent in the very unique and non-traditional thank you clip featured below, taking its cues from David Letterman's Top Ten lists.

Watch the YouTube Live Presentation of the Visionary Award

An article about the award from the Jordan Times

Washington Post - Model UN and HERO Program

Model U.N. Experience Becomes Reality in Africa
Teen Puts Winning Essay to Work

By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 7, 2008; Page SM03

Christina Dawson was flipping through a CosmoGirl magazine when a contest caught her eye: Write an essay about what you would do to help African children, and win a trip to the continent with other youth ambassadors.

Dawson, a senior at Chopticon High School when she learned of the contest in the spring, wrote that she would use her artistic skills to "add color to the classroom." She drew on her experiences, such as living in Malaysia and visiting Peru, to explain the challenges faced by children in developing countries.

Click here to read the full article.

HERO Brings American Teens to Africa

The HERO Campaign is an awareness-building and fundraising initiative dedicated to providing comprehensive, school-based support to orphans and vulnerable children living in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa.

In the summer of 2006, HERO launched a new student initiative, the HERO Youth Ambassador Program. For the past 3 years, they've taken a select group of US high school students to South Africa and Namibia to aid in these efforts. Along with the students and staff, a film crew has also joined the group, producing 2 series of webisodes following the program from start to finish. Below is the first webisode from the 2007 HERO trip.



Click here to watch the 24 other HERO 2007 webisodes
as well as 2006's.

Visit Heroaction.org

Author Frank McCourt speaks with students at the 2008 UNA-USA MUN Conference.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt addresses 2,300 Model UN students at the 2008 United Nations Association of the United States of America Model UN Conference (UNA-USA MUN) Opening Ceremonies, held in the General Assembly Hall of UN Headquarters.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte speaks with Global Classrooms Model UN students

The 2008 Global Classrooms: Washington, DC Model UN Conference, held at the U.S. State Department in April, featured an address and Q&A session with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.  View Ambassador Negroponte's remarks, and his fielding of questions from the Model UN delegates.

Remarks

Student questions pt. 1


Student questions pt. 2

Ban Ki-moon visits Model UN students

Twice in the past eight months, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has addressed UNA-USA's Global Classrooms students. In February, Mr. Ban visited Chicago's Walter Payton Prepatory School, where he and Mayor Richard Daley were treated to a lively Model UN simulation. In May the Secretary General once again addressed student delegates during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 UNA-USA Model UN Conference (UNAUSAMUN), held in the General Assembly Hall of UN Headquarters.

Chicago's ABC News video and report on Mr. Ban's visit to Walter Payton Prep

Ban Ki-moon at UNAUSAMUN 2008, New York


Ambassador William Luers Addresses the 2008 UNAUSAMUN Model UN Conference - YouTube

UNA Photos on Flickr:
UNAUSAMUN 2008 | Global Classrooms: Chicago