teen profile
get involved
by Sarah Spitzer
Jewish youth groups have a blast!
opening minds
model UN allows students to grapple with global issues.
Stamford, Ct.
y
eshiva University National Model United Na-
tions (YUNMUN) XVIII. Here 600 pseudo-del-
egates to dozens of scattered countries walk in:
600 delegates of the world walk out.
Kids in grades 9-12 from Jewish schools all over the
U.S. and Canada arrived for a three-day challenging
learning experience.
Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit hosted the
third annual Solomon Schechter Day School Basketball
For newbies and old-timers alike, the first day of the
model UN tends to be hectic, but once the experienced
kids started up the committee proceedings, everyone
settled into the routine of brain-stimulating semi-chaos.
While kids loyally back their countries' beliefs, heated
debates of how to best solve global issues open eyes and
minds to the vast world of differences, probability, pos-
sibility, impossibility and reality.
Tournament in late January. More than 100 athletes
Akiva Day School juniors Sarah Spitzer, Rebecca Grossman
from Cleveland, Chicago and Toronto were Involved.
and Lyla Foxen Craft
After Shabbat, teams got down to competition, with
cult, but it provides a necessary tool in life for stepping
into someone else's shoes, so to speak, and understanding
where they come from.
onship. Back row: Coach Tony Sanders, Coach Nicole
At YUNMUN, kids learn to sharpen their persuasive
skills and also how to listen and compromise. They learn
to think quickly on their feet and how to solve issues dur-
ing a crisis situation.
Alex Vieder, both of West Bloomfield; David Weinfeld
the undefeated Hillel boys' team claiming the champi-
YUNMUN teaches kids to try to understand the
perspectives of other people, other countries and other
cultures as well as to keep an objective and open mind
while representing a country with opinions very different
from one's own. Learning to accept and expound upon
the ideas and ideals of other cultures can be very cliffi-
This was my third year attending
, and I
went with a team of 10 students from Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Southfield; our team represented Panama and
Sudan. A team of five students also went from the Frankel
Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield, and they represented
Israel.
The UN proceedings were simulated to the extent that
Security Council delegates were awakened in the middle
of the night to deal with a compete terrorist takeover of
the world by Islamist extremists. The delegates had to co-
operate to try to save the world in a very short amount
of time while the terrorists held an imagined bomb over
their heads. Though it was a hard lesson, increased by
the "bombing" of Russia's major oil lines and the deaths
of many of their people, the delegates learned they could
not solve anything by arguing and yelling. They needed to
work together and be creative to save the world.
Perhaps the greatest thing I got out of this conference
was a greater understanding that the more I understand,
Model UN representatives juniors Rachel Belsky and Lauren
Kepes, senior Hannah Posen, junior Kendall Maxbauer and
sophomore Zoe Pinter. Representing Israel, the team experi-
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of Farmington Hills and Coach Brad Freitag. Absent is
Josh Newman of West Bloomfield.
Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit's
novice Quiz Bowl team is in second place with five
wins and .1,605 points going into the final match of the
season this week. Pictured are team members fresh-
man Daniel Elkus, Juniors Eli Newman and Victoria
Greenstein and sophomore Drew Nemer.
Nick Resnick of Shaarey Zedek of Oakland County and
Hills, both 14, share kosher Chinese food at a program
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for Conservative high school students at Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills. In the fall, high school stu-
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Andrew Cahn, all of West Bloomfield; Ryan Grossinger
Noga Barpal of Adat Shalom Synagogue of Farmington
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of Farmington Hills; Isaac Kurzmann, Seth Baum and
Sarah Spitzer, 17, is a junior at Yeshirat Akiva in
Southfield.
enced attacks and unexpected alliances.
on &ary to popular
of West Bloomfield. Front row: Robert Simmons and
the more I understand how little I under-
stand — and a certificate and gavel for best
delegate of Security Council, but that's just
a plus.
Frankel Jewish Academy faculty advisor Jerry Gutman with
R .?
Miller, Michael Simmons and Jonathan Pachter, both
dents from the five Conservative synagogues will join
.
under one program called ATID, meaning "the future" in
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Hebrew.
Cr
e 4
by Josh Loney
teen2teen March • 2008 B3