By Laura Lane
Elkin and Mills were honored to join a team of only four U.S. and three Australian teenagers at the U.N. They were part of a discussion on the United Nations' role in the world today with Shashi Tharoor, the U.N. under-secretary general for communications.
"Talkback Classroom" is a forum in which Australian students discuss and debate issues with their country¹s decision-makers. The program has only recently become international, linking teenagers from Australia and the U.S. with the U.N.
Elkin and Mills said the experience changed their perspectives on the U.N. "I definitely got more out of it than I expected," said Mills. "I got to go behind United Nations' closed doors and see the inner workings of the U.N. I learned that there are so many more opinions on a situation, and that the United Nations is not the United States' opinion, but 191 conflicting opinions."
Before their appearance at the U.N., Elkin and Mills spent two days at the Museum of Television and Radio Broadcasting working on a discussion panel, doing live teleconferencing with the Australian teen panelists. Their job was to formulate questions for the panelists to later ask Tharoor at the U.N.
Briefed about possible topics, Elkin and Mills read more than 100 pages of Tharoor's writings. They worked hard, spending 10 hours each day at the museum with their fellow panelists, preparing the questions. "What we discovered was that we all had the same ideas," said Mills. "And almost the same exact questions."
"But on some of the issues, the Australian panelists had a different perspective," added Elkin. "I think we learned from each other, and it was a very interesting experience to conference with the Australian teenagers."
When the big day arrived, Mills was excited, never having been to the United Nations. Elkin was equally fired up, even though she had been there, having attended the Global Young Leaders Conference.
Everyone had to receive security clearance before entering the U.N., including the large crowd of supporters who came from Merrick to watch the discussion. "We were the largest block in the audience, the Calhoun people," said David Goldberg, who is Mills's and Elkin's social studies teacher at Calhoun. "They changed the room, adding 56 seats for us. There were a couple of kids from the surrounding areas that also came, but no one had as many people there as Calhoun."
Goldberg added that the U.N.'s education director was so impressed by Calhoun's level of interest that she promised to build a stronger relationship with the high school in the future.
Goldberg said he was proud of Elkin and Mills, though he wasn't surprised that they were chosen. "Allison and Greg embody all that Calhoun is about: deep-feeling, well-rounded, worldly people who are involved in global issues of our time," he said. "They are very aware of the political issues that exist in the world around them, and are very concerned with the global conditions that affect humanity throughout the world."
Elkin said, "In general, what I learned was how incredibly complex the entire world of international relations is. International relations aren't black and white at all. It's such a process to decide upon a course of action. I can understand why, when 191 states try to get something done, it's such a long process."
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
