Congratulations to GSMUN XXVII for raising over $8,000+ for The Blue Sky Fund!
This past Friday and Saturday, March 14–15, the Maggie Walker Model United Nations club hosted over 300 visiting students from more than 25 partner schools for our 27th annual conference, GSMUN XXVII. School delegations traveled from as far away as Charlottesville, Arlington, and Maryland to participate in 19 geographically and temporally diverse committees, ranging from historical simulations like HUAC and a five-way joint-crisis committee (JCC) about the Sui Dynasty to specialized committees facing current issues like the NBA or peaceful usage of outer space (COPUOS).
Fundraising at this year’s GSMUN conference supported Richmond-area nonprofit the Blue Sky Fund, which partners with many of MLWGS’s feeder schools and neighboring high schools to provide free, educational experiences in Virginia’s state and national parks. As of Saturday evening, GSMUN XXVII raised over $8,000 to support Blue Sky, with more income from the charity cart expected, pending a report of card transactions.
We welcomed a visit from Rachel Bowen Pittman, executive director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA), who delivered an exciting keynote address about the importance of youth participation in promoting solutions to international and interrelated issues—such as poverty, gender inequality, and the environment—and the power of combining their voices to lobby state and national government representatives to take action through the United Nations.
Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School extends its thanks to the GSMUN XXVII Secretariat: Secretary-General Sonia Chornodolsky, Director-General Sriyutha Morishetty, Chargé d’Affaires Hoda Vohra, USG for External Communications Ally Lichtman, USG for Logistics Brenden Stremler, USG for Crisis Simulations Winston Crane, Director of Charitable Giving Luna Forlano, Director of General Assemblies Ira Prakash, Director of Specialized Agencies Madeleine Dunaway, Director of Press and Publications Keira Kinnier, Director of Technology Sree Gangireddy, Deputy USG of Crisis Ari Johri, and also our most valuable volunteer logistics coordinator Katie Watson. We also hasten to recognize the dedicated and talented GSMUN staff of over 100 students and our numerous volunteers, who all contributed their efforts to create a successful conference. GSMUN’s faculty sponsors, Kyle Rogers, and Allison Anthony, are extremely proud of their impressive club!”
