Warriors working for international peace

WESTFALL - Delaware Valley has joined the United Nations at the prestigious Ivy League Model United Nations Conference. Ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction, ruling on cases within the International Court of Justice, and writing resolutions concerning issues within the European Union were some topics on the list of things to do for sixteen attending Delaware Valley High School students last week. The University of Pennsylvania sponsored conference took place in Philadelphia from Jan. 26 to 29 at the Wyndam Franklin Plaza hotel. The conference emulates the workings of the real United Nations. High school delegates from across the nation and around the world were divided into twenty-two committees, which were organized within the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, specialized agencies, crisis committees, or regional summits. Delaware Valley delegates represented the nation of Germany in fourteen of these committees. History teacher Mark Valentine has been the group’s advisor for the past three years. The conference was a rigorous four day event which entailed much debate, more compromise, and a lot less sleep. This especially applied to delegate Eric Neumann of the European Council when he was taken by taxi from the Comfort Inn at 1 a.m. and returned at 5 a.m. following a mock crisis that arose. Senior Brett Fuchs, a three-year attendee of the conference and president of the club, was accepted to participate in the International Court of Justice where he sat as a judge alongside nine peers. DV history was made once again at the awards ceremony where Kristin Gumper of the Committee on Science and Technology and Donald Bickmann and Nick Troiano of the Disarmament and International Security Committee received verbal commendations from the chairpersons of their respective committees.