Great Bend High School’s forensics team recently attended the annual Model United Nations Conference at Wichita State University. The conference was held in the Rhatigan Student Center on WSU’s campus. It was attended by around 180 students from 17 Kansas high schools. At Model UN conferences, students participate in simulations of United Nations sessions, debating, negotiating, caucusing, drafting, and voting on resolutions that address world problems.

The GBHS students represented Iraq, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Panama, and Cyprus. Each team consisted of three students. The two topic areas that were covered involved control of small arms and promotion of education for democracy. Students met in their committees, where they debated world issues and interacted with faculty and graduate students who are experts on the topics before each committee. Sophomore Breanne Allen noted that she felt the day was beneficial, “because I got to understand a little bit more about how the UN is run and how to make compromises to meet a common goal.” Another GBHS representative Dalton Dicks enjoyed, “the level of cooperation, the caucusing, and the level of general respect for other delegates present in the conference.”

Awards were announced during the closing ceremonies. Daniel Abbott, Dalton Dicks, CJ Gibson and Bayle Sandy team won “Outstanding Position Paper.” These four seniors had collaboratively written a paper presenting Iraq’s position on arms control and education. A freshman, Maddix Pokoroski, received an honorable mention for his work as a delegate from Vietnam.