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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  Top of the world

by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published June 6, 2008

Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Even Hebert, freshman and debate team member; Mike Lucas, senior and MUN team member; Jamison Harris, sophomore and debate team member; Evan Currie, senior and debate team captain; Andrew Shin, senior and MUN team member; Alex Tolksdorf, junior and debate team member; and Ben Parker, junior and MUN team member.

Bloomfield Hills – Brother Rice’s Model United Nations team is No. 1 in the world. Yes, the world.

For their first year participating in The People Speak, Brother Rice’s Model United Nations team didn’t take long to shoot up to the top of the rankings.

But then again, that team was working in conjunction with the school’s debate team, which has won the state championship 11 times out of the past 13 years.

Four members of the Brother Rice team, as well as the members of the other Top 10 teams, will receive a trip to New York in July for the Global Youth Summit, where students will get to learn about, tour and meet officials from the United Nations, as well as meet debating experts.

Nancy Lauer, Brother Rice’s speech and debate teacher, said that the experience has been good for students the first year, “especially if we get to the ultimate end result,” she said before the top teams were announced.

Using the format of both the United Nations and traditional debate teams, MUN teams debate international issues through The People Speak project, which gives the team the opportunity to compete against teams from all over the world using the internet as a debate forum.

Through Global Debate activities such as holding debates and making a submission video, teams rack up points during the school year. Brother Rice has been ranked as high as second in the world on www.thepeoplespeak.org based on the activities they’ve already completed. Brother Rice is the only school in Michigan in the top rankings.

To prepare for the Global Debate, Brother Rice held two debates on campus: an October debate explored whether or not global climate change should be addressed through government regulation or free market mechanisms; a March debate explored who should have governance over the world’s water supply. Both events were co-sponsored by the debate and MUN teams, and team members were pitted against each other pro and con each subject. Other Brother Rice students voted on whom they thought presented the best argument, earning the team more points.

Kristen Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic With speech and debate teacher Nancy Lauer and social studies teacher and MUN moderator Scott Kuschel offering pointers, debate team captain Evan Currie practices arguing a position in front of his classmates.

Scott Kuschel, social studies teacher and MUN moderator at Brother Rice, said hundreds of students have been in the audience for the earlier debates to support the team.

As with any debate, students go through rounds of speeches, asking questions of the other team, and rebuttals, all to strengthen their argument. The teams’ project now deals with water, focusing on bringing clean water to small villages in Africa that don’t have access. The MUN team has to complete a service project related to the topic, so members researched ideas and discovered the Play Pump, a playground merry-go-round that pumps water from the ground as children play on it.

Not only does the equipment provide clean water to regions that often have only dirty, diseased water available, but is also eliminates the need for young girls to spend most of the day fetching water instead of attending school. The school’s first fundraiser for a Play Pump was a dress-down day and t-shirt sale, through which the group made more than $2,000; two other schools have joined the effort to raise money for water pumps, Lauer said.

Brian Koziara, a MUN team junior, said the teams try to pick debating positions that are in line with Catholic teaching. Peaceful living and high quality of life are among usual topics.

Evan Currie, a senior and the debate team’s captain, pointed out that for the water project, the debate team gets to bring awareness to a problem that might not be seen by much of the world. “As a society, we don’t have to think about what’s in our water,” he said.

Currie added that those who drink dirty water aren’t ignorant of the fact that it’s dirty — they just don’t have any other option. “Anything I can do to bring attention to it is well worth it,” he said.

During the school year, while the MUN team prepares for its two debates, the debate team competes in regular competition until, usually, the state finals in February. What’s their secret to continued success? A lot of hard work and good coaching, team members agreed.

Both teams are so much of a time commitment that students can’t do both, Lauer said, although a few also play a sport. The hours get significantly longer as competition draws near, and the competitions themselves are day-long events.

Lauer said the project teaches students to think outside of their own world, what they can do to contribute to society, and how to take responsibility in their own community — instead of sitting back and not doing anything. Andrew Shin, a senior who was on the debate team before switching to MUN, said he feels there aren’t enough students and people in general who know about world issues. But if the team gets their friends to come watch a debate, they’ve educated that many more people.

Evan Hebert, a debate team freshman, pointed out that although we don’t have to worry about clean water in Michigan, because it’s God’s gift to us, we can still educate others about the lack of fresh water in other parts of the world.

Currie and the rest of the team know they are breaking the norm for the average teenager, but he said being on the team lets him other cities for competitions, and meet new people from around the country.

“There is work, and there is reward,” he said. “Being there is really fun, and a good experience.”

Alex Tolksdorf, a debate team junior, said not only does the team raise awareness of global issues, but it also helps students to act out the Gospel message. “Through our efforts, we’re helping change the lives of people for the better,” he said. “It’s kind of overwhelming to be a part of that — in a good way. It shows how we can truly make a difference.”