For 43 years, Hilton High School has welcomed students from surrounding school districts to participate in a Model United Nations Conference. This year, over 400 students from 25 schools attended the two-day conference held on November 4 and 5. The student-directed event provides debate opportunities for both new and experienced high school delegates.
This year’s Model UN Conference was represented by two secretaries-general, two under-secretaries-general, 28 chairpersons, and 14 committees. Martha Burke, Hilton High School social studies teacher, serves as Model UN advisor and conference chair.
.The committees that students chaired are based on actual UN committees that debate proposals, present position papers, and vote on resolutions. Schools select the country/countries they want to represent, and delegates prepare before the conference by researching that country’s stand on issues and current problems.
Sadiya Omar, vice president and co-founder of Refugees Helping Refugees, and currently lead case manager, was this year’s guest speaker. Omar fled the civil war in Somalia in the early 1990s and became a respected educator and advocate for women and girls in refugee camps in Kenya. She was granted asylum and moved to the United States in 2001. Since then, Omar has continued her tireless advocacy for refugee resettlement, integration, and education in Rochester. She is the recipient of the 2016 Jefferson and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Awards for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities, and was named the Antoinette Brown Blackwell Woman of the Year in 2019.
Delegates raised over $4,000 for Refugees Helping Refugees by selling carnations and competing in “Jar Wars” to see which committee could raise the most money. The Hilton Model UN Club will match the donation.
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