MARLBORO – David Buneta, a junior at Marlboro High School, will serve as secretary general of the YMCA Model United Nations program during 2018-19.
The Model UN is part of the YMCA’s Civic Engagement program and its related Youth and Government program. The Model UN states that it is “building the global leaders of tomorrow, today.”
David, who is the son of Marsha and Arsen Buneta of Morganville, was elected by the entirety of the Model UN annual conference of 48 attending delegations and nearly 2,500 students at the Model UN’s annual conference in Hershey, Pa., in early January. He will be the first student from Marlboro High School to serve as secretary general.
The secretary general is the chief executive of the Youth Model United Nations and is elected to serve the term during their senior year in high school. For David, that will be the 2018-19 school year.
The Civic Engagement program educates students about issues in their community and seeks to empower them to take responsibility. The YMCA Model UN program serves students across the Mid-Atlantic region, which spans metropolitan areas from New York to Washington, D.C.
As secretary general, David will be responsible for directing and coordinating Model UN education directives, volunteering and advertising. He is responsible for developing the discussion topics for each Model UN committee and the annual conference theme for next year and he will mediate disputes at conferences.
Students from the 48 delegations are divided into about 30 committees of debate, similar to what is found at the United Nations. Each committee is headed by a committee chair, who is always a high school student elected by his or her peers.
David said he will travel to a national conference and meet with other secretary generals in Washington, D.C., to help coordinate the national agenda on what messages to impart on the students of their various “spheres of influence.”
He will travel to North Carolina to participate in the YMCA’s Conference on National Affairs and serve as chief captain of the conference. He will also travel to meet potential donors and corporate sponsors for a scholarship/grant fund for underprivileged students who would otherwise be unable to attend a conference.
“I love this program because of the people who attend it,” David said. “There is a distinguishable change in the air as soon as we walk through the conference doors in Hershey. Every person who attends the conference is supportive of one another to a degree that is unimaginable.
“The YMCA’s four core values of honesty, respect, responsibility and caring are exemplified by the students who attend our conference. I love it because as a result, we have formed a large family unit.
“The students who attend Model UN are incredible because they are smart, but they can also work together in an extremely cohesive environment. This astounds me because in the real world of politics, the amount of self-interest and circular arguing is overwhelming.
“It gives me hope for the future. I am very excited to be running this extremely wonderful conference and leading the students of my school and the region,” David said.
