Sophomores launch global initiative

Eva Kennedy and Abbie Preston Sta Reporters

When sophomore Mary McDonald reached out to David Hardy, the T/E Middle School Junior Model United Nations advisor, in e orts to start a Model UN program in Shanghai, the two found an opportunity to connect students from Berwyn, PA, to the world.

McDonald, a former member of Junior Model UN at TEMS, was interested in leading and forming a team with Hardy to launch an initiative to interact with students of foreign nations.

e initiative aims to spread Model UN concepts to other countries and gain new perspectives on global issues.

“Our overarching goal with this is to create a space where people can learn about other cultures,” McDonald said. “We also want these students to learn about the UN and how their country interacts with the UN and in the world.” e meetings, in which McDonald and her team connect with students from countries such as China, Mozambique, Turkey and Scotland, take place via Microso Teams. ey are planning to meet four times a year. ough a structured conversation is helpful in organizing the dia- talk about issues that people feel are pertinent to them,” McDonald said. “I want to know how issues are a ecting people based on where they are in the world and how that a ects their worldview.”

Conversations are rst introduced with a discussion of a current global issue, followed by a description of daily life in the attendees’ respective countries.

Hardy, the facilitator of the a traveler, you get a di erent perspective when you are exposed to other countries. Well, this (initiative) is kind of the next best thing for us — to be able to connect with other individuals of the world and to see a di erent perspective.”

For sophomore Lauren Wu, another team member of the initiative, human connection is essential to truly understand global perspectives.

“You can go online, you can search what a country’s opinion (on a topic) is, but you won’t actually get to know the country itself if you don’t talk to the people to nd their experiences and what they’re like,” Wu said.

McDonald sees conversations and openness to opinions as crucial to prevent con icts.