*staggers in looking beaten and shocked*

It... It was HORRIBLE! Real life... It had me- by the throat! I almost couldn't get away. *swoons*

*ripped record sound effect*

Ok, back to the less melodramatic version of my life: I've had an insanely busy week. Thanks to everyone who has put up with my griping, etc. Thanks also to the people who were so understanding of my busy schedule.

It's great. I've finally finished up my Model United Nations thing at the University. Here's the e-mail that went out last night about it. *raise the roof*

-- Congratulations to every student who killed themselves over this last month to catch us and lap the field. You make us so proud. I'm finally calming down after talking to "Sarah" about 4 PM. As I've said before, this is "goosebump good." This was teamwork, research, and political excellence at its best. It's great to be associated with you guys!!! I've heard nothing but great things. Will the World Herald have something tomorrow?? We'll see.

God bless

-- NEWSFLASH!!

Homeschool High School Teams Take Top Awards At Model United Nations Competition!

Homeschooled teams bested 23 other high school teams by winning the top two awards at the University of "The Undecided (but cool anyway)" annual Model United Nations competition this past weekend.

"The University's" Department of International Studies hosted this premiere event which began Friday night, March 3rd, continued all day Saturday, and concluded Sunday afternoon, March 5th, 2006.

Two Homeschool High School teams matched research, writing, international policy analysis, public speaking, and diplomatic skills with the best from throughout the metro Omaha area.

Student Delegation Leader Mari(senior), Kaite(junior), and Jacob(junior) represented the Kingdom of Belgium. Coached by former homeschool student and current college senior Dan (double-majoring in International Studies and French) won the "Best Teamwork" award for their diplomatic conflict resolution throughout the conference, and for their successfully adopted resolution proposing equal parliamentary representation between Israel and the Palestinian people.

Student Delegation Leader Sara, Christopher, and Rachel (all sophomores) represented the Republic of Cyprus. Coached by homeschool mom Holly, this team won the award for "Best Resolution." Their research and written arguments as demonstrated by their resolution (adopted by the General Assembly), "On the Question of Missing Persons in Cyprus," received organizer praise even before the final awards.

These awards are the icing on the cake for six homeschooled scholars who put put in countless hours researching, debating, and drafting, drafting, drafting - all within three weeks. Yet it was clear from the beginning of the conference on Friday night that our two teams had already out-worked almost every team, in contrast to competing resolutions that were transparent in their lack of research, understanding, or attention to detail. (The ultimate compliment was Saturday morning when other delegations shared their reformatted-overnight-written presentations with brand-new diplomatic artwork, following the example of Belgium and Cyprus!) *HSHS's award-winning work is available for your perusal upon request!*

Special thanks to Sarah for the provision of her home as research base for the Cyprus team - not to mention her vast computer skills, and to Rosalyn for assisting as a vocal coach to the Belgian team.

Of course, a special, special thanks to our Model UN Professor Emeritus, Dr. Mark, who first brought the competition to our attention; gathered introductory material, established an administrative relationship with competition organizers, put the word out through our Home School High School network - and opened his fantastic basement classroom to all interested students and parents at the first orientation meeting in January!

(A final breath-taking observation on what an accomplishment this is for HSHS: most teams began their preparations in October and November. We only met for the first time January 26th, and had to wait almost two weeks before country assignments were confirmed!)

HOME SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL TEAMS ROCK!

Labels: HSHS, Model United Nations