Cal State San Bernardino’s Model United Nations program has expanded to the Palm Desert campus, and students there will be able to compete for the first time at next week’s conference in Canada.
Palm Desert campus students will represent Morocco and will join the team at the university’s main campus in San Bernardino, who will represent Mexico, at Banff, Alberta, from Nov. 23-29.
“This is an exciting new chapter for our Palm Desert campus students,” said Kevin Grisham, co-coordinator of the CSUSB Model UN program. “Representing Morocco gives us our Palm Desert campus students an opportunity to bring new perspectives to global discussions, and we’re excited to learn, collaborate and showcase what our campus can contribute on the world stage.”
The program was designed to help students develop skills such as diplomacy, public speaking and research, while playing the role of a diplomat.
“I joined the Model United Nations to learn more about politics and global issues,” said Shekinah Daffon, a kinesiology major at CSUSB. “What started as a way to challenge myself turned into an opportunity to gain confidence and strengthen my public speaking, negotiation and critical thinking skills.”
The CSUSB Model UN program has been active for 52 years and has earned national recognition for its excellence in academic diplomacy and experiential learning, officials said.