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Politics. This topic was first seen to not be as useful to the group before we actually realized how much of an impact it can have on a country. The day was focused on how young leaders like us can have a massive impact throughout the world with our ideas and propositions. This was unlike any other day (especially because we had to be as formal as possible).

The first part of the politics day was initiated with a seminar on what a Model UN is like. The game that we played in the beginning seemed useless at first. It involved us writing down something we want another person to do. The point of realization was when we were then given the question: Would you feel comfortable with doing the thing that you wrote down for someone else? This really made me realize the importance of empathy for your people and critical thinking. We were then told what to do in a Model UN and how the guest speaker participated in many of these on a national and international level.

Afterwards came the actual workshop of preparing for our Model UN and being assigned a country to represent. Four of my peers and I were given Haiti. Reading the articles of history between Haiti and Dominican Republic saddened me. This is because I really got to know the history behind the devastated country along with all the people involved in it. Most things I learned about today are not shown in the media or in history books (at least to say about the American perspective). All of our eyes were opened to the truth about the situation, and it was our job to find a solution to the problem at hand as young leaders.

The following event that came was the actual Model UN, where our preparation was brought to the test as we debated over a solution to the problem that was given to us. The issue that was brought to us was the reparation of relations between the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the United States. It impacted me when I realized how much these three countries really depend on each other. We were all puzzled to learn about the significance of Haiti in this relations triangle, given that Haiti is normally seen as insignificant to Americans and other world leaders. We discussed all the issues and came to the agreement that the United States had to give millions of dollars to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to help with the aid and development of these countries. In addition to this, both Caribbean countries would change their constitutions in order to accept all the stateless people, which are those who do not have Dominican or Haitian citizenship. It really inspired me to see how my peers came up with this solution that would be beneficial 67in the long run. I cannot think about another group of kids that could’ve came up with this in the few hours that we had to think about it.

I hope that I can take this knowledge and apply it to all sorts of situations in the future because I now realize how important politics are not just for a nation’s economy and relations, but for all aspects of the life of its citizens. This was really important for the whole group, especially for those who look forward to pursuing politics in their future.