Nine students affiliated with Lincoln University's Model United Nations team traveled to St. Louis last week to represent the interests of Azerbaijan, the largest country in the Caucasus region.
Started in the spring of 2013, the fledgling team is finding its footing by participating in events like the Midwest Model UN, said Logan Nuernberger, a political science student who serves as counsel general for his team.
Nuernberger said the program helps students learn about the world and better understand how the United Nations operates.
Representing 193 nations, the UN's key entities include the General Assembly (the main deliberative body), the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security) and the Economic and Social Council (for promoting international cooperation and development).
With its five permanent and 15 rotating members, the Security Council has the power to send out peacekeeping troops, he said. Azerbaijan happens to be one of the 15 rotating members, which gave the LU students a larger role to play this time.
The work is fascinating, Nuernberger said, and it has stoked his interest in a career in foreign policy, possibly working in an embassy overseas.
It's also broadened his mind.
"You can't think as an American," he said. "You have to think like someone from Azerbaijan. You have to immerse yourself in the culture you're representing."
He noted Americans mostly have the luxury of not having to think about war daily. "For other countries, war is around, all the time," he said.
To prepare for the mock convention, college students from across the Midwest prepare position papers. Although many university students do the work for a class, Lincoln's students prepare on their own time.
"It's hard when you don't have an international relations program on campus," Nuernberger said.
He wants to see LU's political science program - it currently has two professors - grow and prosper. "It could be so much bigger, because the Missouri State Capitol is right here," he said.
Previously, the LU team has represented Nepal at a convention held last fall in Chicago and Malawi at an event last spring. Next spring, LU will represent South Africa.
Students win awards such as "Delegates' Choice" and "Outstanding Delegation" by impressing peers and judges with their persuasive rhetoric, enthusiastic participation and polished diplomacy skills.
On the LU team, Stephen Brooks - a former News Tribune photographer studying computer information systems - earned an honorable mention in the category: "International Press Delegation - Al Jazeera."
Brooks, who filed several news articles last week, was pleased to put his journalism skills back to work. Because Azerbaijan is close to the Middle East, Brooks wanted to be a part of Al Jazeera's press delegation.
"Al Jazeera is respected for telling the Middle East's side of the story," Brooks said.
Participating in Model UN helped him understand the challenges the UN faces.
"Compromise between nations is extremely difficult, because every nation has to have its own interests at heart, but they also have to find common ground," he said.
Brooks, who at 51 is older than the average college student, came away from the experience feeling uplifted.
"Seeing how interested, and how engaged, the younger students are, I felt very hopeful for our future," Brooks said.