EFA- Reflection

Education for All was a different then many of the other activities that I completed this year and last year. Over the course of the year my my main focus was not learning new things about myself but helping others. I really feel like I was able to help others by being a part of this group. We raised money through several different fundraisers. Our most successful one for raising money was the oie sale earlier in the year which I both baked for and sold in. This year we raised much more money then we did last year and I am hoping that the club will continue to grow and raise more money again next year.

I feel that I did successfully reach my goal of helping plan an activity because being a part of EFA a very new club at Sturgis, it allowed for every member to have a bigger say at helping build up this club and plan what fundraisers we would be doing. I felt like I helped plan the pie sale the most. This is because I helped decided who would bake what pies and negotiate the best time to sell them as to reach maximum profit. I also added in my views when we were planning the school supplies sale and the crepe sale and when was the best time to do them and what were the best prices. For the fundraisers to go well it was very important to have good planning and that was what was something I was able to contribute to.

I also feel like I reached my learning outcome of engaging in issues of a global importance. This is because EFA is one of our most globally reaching clubs. This is because the money that we make goes towards helping build schools in the middle east. I learned so much about this problem during the last year. I new that education was lacking in the middle east but when I watched a movie during one of our meetings in EFA I learned how deprived these children are of any education and tricked into attending schools that are not what they seem. I would never have know the depth of the problem with out entering EFA and I am glad that I do. This problem seems to get little attention from major forces and so I am glad that our clubs and clubs like it all over the world are both raising money and spreading awareness of this cause. At the end of the year we will send in all the money that we made to help these children. With more awareness raised I hope even more good things will come to these children in the next years. I think EFA is a very important club for raising awarness of a global problem and trying to help it.

EFA FInal discussions

This week in EFA we discussed what would be happing towards the end of the year and our last projects. We talked about our booths at the Spaction and the springfest. I think that both of these opportunities are going to be a big hit for our club because we get people who have some more free time to learn about our cause instead of just students rushing to class. There will also be more adults who understand the seriousness of this problem and are more likely to purchase the book that inspired our club. Then we decided on who would be the leader of EFA next year because Kelsie, the club leader, is a senior and will be graduating. We decided on Mary, a junior, because she will by then have the most active experience in the club and be capable of running it next year. I think that we are going to end EFA very strong this year and that next year the club will continue it's successful growth.

MUN Reflection

This last year of MUN, I saw myself playing a bigger role than ever before . I completed my fist learning outcome this year by working very successfully with my partner. This year we both wrote well researched position papers which were a lot better written and researched then the one I produced last year. Also I was able to help show her different aspects of MUN and she was able to bring new ideas to our group when representing Macedonia. I think we worked really well together and were able to research both topics fully so that both partners would be equally prepared on both subjects.

I also completed my second learning outcome of considering my ethical implications. I have learned so much about the tricky process of de mining and also about how the UN works as a whole. I learned that when it comes to the dangerous and ethical question of de-mining there is so much to consider in the real world outside of the question of whether it's right or wrong. How much each country can supply for finically aiding a nation to de min and if using animals for finding land mines is an ethical process are two ethical issues that I had to think about during this experience. It's not about whether a country think's mines are wrong and should be gotten ride of, it's how this great goal can be reached and how far countries are willing to go to reach this ethical goal. I also learned a lot about the ethics of the UN as a whole. I learned about the importance of alligs and how a country might but align with certain countries even if it is not necessarily the best course of action. In the MUN conference this year Macedonia supported the failing resolution because even though it was not the better paper, we sided with what our ally's wanted. Alliances are such a important ethical consideration in the real UN and it was important to learn about it in this conference.

MUN Trip

Last week I went to the National High School Model United Nations and the experience and my involvement were much greater than last year. On the first day of the conference we got our self settled and decided to what topic to discuss first. We decided to discuss because even though it was not my topic, I had read what my partner had researched about the topic and it seemed that landmines macedonia had a much stronger stance on landmines and more personal positions on landmine de-mining than it did on security sector reform in Africa. This is because Macedonia had recently successfully de mined parts of it's country and so it had person connection to the topic and stronger view than on the security sector reform topic in Africa. Landmines vs SSR in africa were voted on my the delegates and de-mining won as the position that we would be discussing. This was a successful first night because the topic our country felt more strongly on was chosen which would lead for more for Macedonia to work with.

The next day we had both ups and down while trying to get our views on landmines out. During the first unmoderated caucus we went to go talk to the European Union because those country's would be the ones most likely to gain Macedonia's support in the real UN. We approached the big players from the EU and were essentially shut down. We asked a couple kids there view but they either gave vague answers or walked right by. We could not even inch our way into the EU crowed meeting. Macedonia is not part of the UN but they have been a candidate since 2005 and so showing support to these countries would be one of Macedonia's major interests.

After the shut down at that committee, we continued with different tactics to get our views heard. We wrote notes to a couple of our other major allies asking there views and positions and actually got some good responses from Bosnia and Albania and other nations. We started to see which countries were align ing with who and where we should place our alliance. One country even asked how we successfully de mined our country (we told then how finical support from our ally Albania helped us and how important the availability of funding was for countries needing aid to de-mine).

This continued for the next few committee sessions until we found a paper to align ourselves behind. We ended up choosing paper resolution 1.1 because it contained a good number of our ally's as sponsors/signers and talked about funding. This resolution did not pass and the other paper went through but our paper put up a good fight. All in all it was a very rewarding experience no matter what paper was passed and my partner and myself made a lot more contact with other nations then I had last year. I felt like we actually had a stance and were able to share it.

MUN- debate

This week in MUn we gathered during lunch to participate in a debate. We separated into groups and each debated one side of the issue which was if the US was justified in invading and starting a war with Iraq. We I arrived I went to the group that was against entering the war and there we gather and read information and made our case. It was a short debate with no winning side but it was important. It was important because it taught us how to collecte and clearly present information in a debate like setting. Being able to form clear ideas from facts and speck them fluidly is a importnat skill to have a MUN and I think that this drill really help the development of it.

Education For All- New Fundraiser

This week in education for all we discussed a new way to bring in money for our couse of building schools in the middle east that did not involve seeing baked goods. We brainstormed and we all discussed the pros of selling school supplies during break because they are items that are often in demand for people and they tie well into our mission. I discussed how selling school supplies would be easy for us to market because it ties into our mission of the importance of education and for people to have the supplies needed to attend schools around the world. I really like this idea because we are not just selling food to make money but making a statement with what we sell. I really think that promoting education around the world will help bring greater peace to our world and that with learning come understanding. That is why I think this fundraiser is a very good one for our club.

MUN Position Paper Finished

In the last weeks we have been working away on our position papers to get them finished and sent in well before the conference in New York City on March 17. I have finished my position paper and given it into Mr. Fetzer to be sent off to the leaders of the mun councils. I am really proud of my position paper this year and feel that I have made many improvements over the paper that I wrote last year. This paper is longer and has more research put into it them the one that I wrote last year. I have more sources and I feel that the essay is better organized. I also put more time into this one spending time throughout the weeks researching it and spending two days working on it a writing on it. I even had my partner proof read it because an extra set of eyes helps pick out flaws and errors that might be missed by me. I feeling like I know my subject well enough to represent it at the MUN committees. now I have to read my partners position paper on the the other topic for out committee and she has to read mine so that we both have a full understanding on both subjects. Our group will also be holding mock debates every wednesday after school to get us ready for sharing and expressing out countries views infront of of other people.