Junior United Nations Assembly

Albert Einstein once said, "The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

You've heard of the United Nations. But, you might not have heard of the Junior United Nations Assembly, or JUNA.

It's a student-run model of the United Nations General Assembly for Alabama students in grades 6-8.

Think of it as the Super Bowl for motivated, smart students interested in world affairs.

I attended the 19th annual Junior United Nations Assembly at Birmingham Southern College.

You come away feeling pretty good about young people and pretty good about the future.

They come from all around Alabama. They come from 17 different schools, and in this two-day conference, they represent the interest of 41 countries from around the world.

Ann Cadman Graham has worked for months with her fellow students. They represent the country of Thailand. They studied; they prepared, and today, presented a resolution for the entire Junior General Assembly to consider.

"Well, it's been fun to learn about all the countries and the problems and how you can solve them and learn good leadership and stuff like that," Cadman said, who attends Cherokee Bend Elementary.

Susan Dulin is the executive director of the Junior United Nations General Assembly.

"You know, it's really like the Super Bowl of smart, debate, interested in world affairs kids, and you can't help be excited about the passion they have to make the world a better place," Dulin said.

For Alex Jones from Phillips Academy here in Birmingham, this is his second JUNA event. He has a passion for the needs of others.

"I would love to be a missionary to other countries just in case people don't have what we have in our country and I'd just like to help them out with that," Jones said.

Marc Straus, from Mountain Brook Elementary, represents India… and his costume is what the more wealthy or prominent people in India might wear.

"It's a huge learning experience, I mean the entire time, everyone's really, really into it… it's really, really interesting," Straus said.

The meetings mimic the real United Nations. Each country presents a resolution to the full assembly. Based on real needs and facts, the students try to convince the assembly to support their resolution.

The presentations are done with passion about very serious issues. But the process, the learning, the costumes, the teamwork is fun too.

"I like it,” said Ashley James of Gadsden Middle School. ”I've enjoyed it very much because it's given us the opportunity to learn about different countries that are there."

"Well, it's really fun to come and see everybody in their costumes,” said Emma Hyde of Mountain Brook Elementary. “and it's a lot of hard work, learning speeches and the sign language and stuff like that, but it's been so much fun to come to this."

"It's really exciting and fun,” said Sydney Williams of Gadsden Middle School. “One thing that I like about it is the environment and you can just be yourself and enjoy what you're doing the whole time."

One might think these young people have learned a great deal from studying how the real United Nations works. But as you see how well-prepared these students are, as you listen to them speak with facts and with compassion, you can't help but wonder if ambassadors from around the world could learn a thing or two themselves.

They're fabulous kids and the more time you spend with these kids, you can get very optimistic about the future knowing that kids like these are going to be in charge.

If you or your child might be interested in finding out more about the Junior United Nations Assembly, you can visit their Web site.