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CPP Magazine
That's SoCalPoly
A collection of short stories celebrating our campus' unique location, traditions and inclusive polytechnic identity.
PolyX How To: Formulating a Winning Model UN Team
The Model United Nations is an educational simulation where students learn about international relations. After months of preparation, students attend an annual conference as representatives of a country and solve a problem with other delegates (students) from around the world. The immersive experience strengthens students’ critical thinking, research, public speaking, negotiating and writing. In spring 2021, the team represented the country of Malta at the virtual conference and won Distinguished Delegation. Advisor and Political Science Professor Marc Scarcelli shares the steps for preparing a winning team.
The 2016 Model UN Team
In fall, students apply to be on the team. Selected applicants interview with the advisor and the team’s two head delegates. The final team consists of about 20 students from different majors.
In spring, students spend Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the library, researching the rules and procedures of the UN.
The team breaks up into pairs, and each pair is assigned to a committee. Each committee pair writes a position paper on their country’s stance on a topic.
Students work in various committees alongside other delegates from universities to draft resolutions and build a strong team of sponsors to pass policies. Teams win awards for excellent public speaking, collaboration, research and writing.
Student Innovation Idea Labs
The Student Innovation Idea Labs (SIIL) enhance the PolyX experience by creating spaces that foster creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The Maker Space in the University Library and Innovation Orchard at Ganesha High School in Pomona, as well as three future spaces, allow students to collaborate with their peers on projects, research and creative ventures.
A Brief History: Italy Study Abroad Program
For landscape architecture students in the College of Environmental Design, Castiglion Fiorentino is practically a rite of passage. This Tuscan hill town of 13,000 hosts the Italy Study Abroad Program and has welcomed more than 700 Cal Poly Pomona students since 1993. It is arguably the longest-running study abroad program at Cal Poly Pomona. Each fall, students spend 12 weeks in rural east Tuscany, their days occupied with field trips to significant sites, exhibitions, sketching verdant landscapes, and visit to Rome and Venice.
Professor Philip Pregill establishes the Italy Study Abroad Program, partnering with the Santa Chiara Study Center, a resident research institution and a cultural liaison. Housed in a renovated 15th-century convent, the center has student dormitories, dining and study spaces. Its famous courtyard overlooks the Val di Chio, one of several lush valleys at the foothills of the Apennine Mountains.
Amici di ENV (Friends of ENV) is launched to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Department of Landscape Architecture. Open to 20 non-student guests, the nine-day tour highlights the rural delights of the region: food, wine, print-making with local artisans, cooking, even truffle hunting.
The program finds a new base in Agritourismo Sorgente. The program itself is unaltered.
COVID-19 is declared a national emergency, and university travel is suspended. The department also pauses Amici di ENV.
The Italy Study Abroad Program hopes to resume in spring 2022, pending public health guidance.
