U.N.-conventional

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Mar 7, 2007 by Barbara Hollingsworth

By Barbara Hollingsworth

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Put the world in the hands of teenagers and they will fight to end the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Of course, students at the Topeka Model United Nations also simultaneously banned cigarette smoking and legalized marijuana use - for medicinal purposes, of course. And then there was the student, representing Russia, who wanted to turn the United Nations into some sort of giant IHOP, apparently keeping the U.N.'s international mission but throwing in pancakes.

"Weird things happen," explained this year's secretary general, Michael Hockenbarger, a Topeka High School senior.

About 700 Kansas students - a mix of serious political thinkers and eccentrics - descended on the Kansas Expocentre Monday and Tuesday for the 43rd annual Topeka Model United Nations. Some were dressed in business suits, and others in costumes of the counties they represented, as they went about their work.

Coming from more than 50 different middle and high schools, the students were assigned countries to represent as Model U.N. delegates. The student delegates have to know the views of their assigned county's government to avoid being called out.

And while most delegates stayed on task, Hockenbarger and liason officer Alessandra West found themselves putting an end to some of the most wild proposals, including the IHOP resolution.

"You get the occasional people who want to make things sillier than they should be sometimes," said West, a Topeka West High School senior.

So despite their amusement, they wound up pulling the speaking rights from the Russian delegate who pushed for the IHOP.

"He knew he was going to get credential-checked," Hockenbarger said. "He valiantly tried to argue his case."

As Tuesday wound down, the top schools and students were recognized. Washburn Rural High School's United States delegation won the award as the best delegation.

For Washburn Rural junior Ben Schroeder, the win for his school coincided with a personal victory. He was named the best delegate in the Political Council II after showing more interest in the substantive debates.

Among Schroeder's initiatives, he pushed to increase economic pressure on Iran to discourage uranium enrichment.

"I tried to keep it sane," he said. "There were some digressions, but for the most part, it was intellectual."

Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached

at (785) 295-1285

or barbara.hollingsworth@cjonline.com.