Vol. 38 Issue #3
November 2, 2012
The Knightly News Pace Academy 966 West Paces Ferry Road Atlanta, Georgia 30327
p. 2 Spotlight on Mr. Whyte
p. 3 Five Minutes with Brittany
p. 6-7 Special Election Spread
Election 2012: Guide for the Politically Clueless By: Riley Muse Staff Writer ‘14
As you may have heard through the grapevine, there is a presidential election going on this very moment! Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, I don’t vote so I don’t care,” “I support whomever my parents like,” “All that governmental stuff is too complicated,” or the immensely popular, “Politics are a snooze.” Yet voting is a huge privilege that our founding fathers fought for, and on Nov. 6 American citizens across the country will visit their local voting centers to cast their ballots for arguably the most important position in our government. Given that all of these arguments, debates, and discussions repeating the same old things can be slightly tedious, the majority of people want the bare-boned basics in order to make a final decision on who they believe is most qualified to lead this country. The Knightly News team has reviewed an immense amount of research on the election and boiled it down
Photo: Riley Muse Junior Eda Calapkulu, a U.S. citizen of only six months, remains undecided for the 2012 election. to this collection of rudimentary information, essentially creating a mini “Election 2012 for Dummies.” Hopefully, no matter how un-political you are, you know that the current President of the United States is Hawaii native Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, and the Vice President is Joe Biden. Obama took office in January 2009, having promised “hope,” “change,” and
“unity” during his campaign. But large issues such as passage of the Affordable Health Care Act, unemployment, and a debt ceiling battle in the Capitol quickly took hold of his presidency. His time spent in office is often characterized as cleaning up a mess, having entered office with two unpaid wars, the worst economic recession in 80 years, a broken national health care system, a horrific housing
market crash, etc. Yet his term also included significant accomplishments such as the killing of Osama bin Laden, job creation (5.2 million new jobs added over the past two and a half years), the rescue of the American auto industry, the ending of the war in Iraq, and the initiation of the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. Obama has taken basic
stances on issues supported by the Democratic Party platform such as support of abortion rights, insurance coverage for contraception, and legalization of same-sex marriage. (During his term Obama also repealed the military ban on openly gay members.) Obama also looks to let Bush-era tax cuts expire for couples with joint incomes over $250,000 as part of his efforts to address the deficit. In terms of the environment and energy conservation, Obama is a big proponent of green energy. He prohibited deep water drilling after the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and opposed the Keystone pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada to the U.S., but has pushed for more domestic oil and gas drilling overall. In terms of immigration, the government deported a record number of immigrants during Obama’s term, but illegal immigrants brought over as children are now exempted from deportation and granted work permits if they apply. His foreign policy includes strong opposition to any military strike on Iran, unless it proves
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Model UN Explores the Globe By: Hayley Silverstein News Editor ‘14 What looks great on college applications, lets you travel the world, and enables you to learn many random facts about countries around the globe? Model UN! Although students have heard Ms. Smith’s invitations to attend conferences, many don’t know what really goes on. Model UN is a simulation of the actual United Nations, in which students represent a certain country, debate topics going on in the world, and pass resolutions that are solutions to the debated topics. Senior Zach Steinfeld said that he started Model UN in ninth grade: “Ms. Smith seemed to be a sweet lady, so I decided that it would be a smart extracurricular activity.” While pre-conference work requires writing papers on topics from your country’s standpoint, your friends will be impressed by your knowledge “ranging from Indian sanitation projects
to weapons control in Nigeria and oil production in Qatar,” said senior Sam Schaffer. Other students find the pre-conference work memorable. Senior Claire Wiskind remembers “hanging out in Ms. Smith’s room until midnight eating pizza and drinking coffee the night before the position papers were due.” Model UN goes on three to five trips a year that range from 30 minute drives to Emory University to overseas flights to Prague in the Czech Republic. Each conference is held by a different university and run by its students, with Yale’s YMGE, Tuft’s Epiic Inquiry, and the University of Chicago’s MUNUC being popular among Pace students. This year, Pace Academy will be attending SUSMUN at Emory University, MITMUN at MIT, and TUFTS’s Epiic Inquiry at Tufts University. Each conference is unique, with the possibility of a simulated crisis erupting at any minute. (Last year at YMGE, an oil tanker off the coast of Mykonos, Greece blew up, while Russia started at-
tacking civilians in Chechnya.) Many students who went on the trip to Prague to attend YMGE think fondly of meeting in the hotel lobby until 1 a.m. to research and prepare for committee the next morning, in order to address the crisis that was announced just a few hours prior. While crises depend on the conference and committee, every Model UN presents students with new challenges, an immense learning experience, chances to make friends from across the world, and the ability to speak in a small group of 10 people to an auditorium of 500 people. Conferences consist of open debate, drafting working papers, and passing resolutions. However, it is not all work. Excursions to museums with art history lessons from Ms. Stevens or Ms. Smith, snowball fights in Chicago after a major blizzard, shopping in Harvard’s famous bookstore the Coop, college tours, and accordion performances on the cobbled streets of Prague are just a few experiences that
Photo: Hayley Silverstein Students take a break after the YMGE Conference in Prague. happened outside of committee. Senior Meredith Bradshaw said that the most memorable experience was “eating lunch and discussing Chechnyan rebels with a girl from Slovakia.” Along with its educational significance, Model UN teaches students to see and represent topics from different points of view, and students are able to meet students from across the globe and form friendships that make conferences feel like annual reunions. Zach said that
Model UN has taught him “how to work efficiently, be globally aware, and listen to instructions to avoid punishment.” So what compels these MUNers to stick with an extracurricular that makes you learn outside of school? It’s the chaperones, the travel, the students you meet from all over the world, and the studying of relevant topics. Junior Kevin Silverstein said that he continues to participate in Model UN because he and Ms. Smith “are best friends.”