Students from Franklin Square, Floral Park, Elmont, and New Hyde Park gathered at H. Frank Carey High School to participate in the annual Lee Markus Sewanhaka High School District Model UN Conference. The conference is a interdistrict competition of Model UN where students debate issues that impact the world. The conference is an annual event that was attended by over 300 students from all the component high schools.

Assemblyman Tom Alfano visited the conference and spoke to students of all the Model UN committees on the importance of global diplomacy. "This is one of the most outstanding programs I have ever participated in our schools. It teaches our young people the importance of intelligent debate, problem-solving and arguing ideas based on facts. It's truly refreshing to see our young people discussing issues like genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity," Assemblyman Alfano said.

Lee Markus, creator and founder of the Model UN program, escorted Assemblyman Alfano. The weekend conference was named after him in recognition of his leadership of the program. "Lee Markus took our young people to the Netherlands, competed toe to toe with students from around the world and won. The power of this program has been inspirational to generations of our young people," Alfano said.

Students participated in numerous committee sessions where they debated resolutions that would be adopted in a general Model UN meeting. The delegate students who represent different countries throughout the world take the roles of the member states and argue points from perspectives of their delegations. Parliamentary procedures used by the United Nations is the order of the day and debates over the respective resolutions are advanced in their respective Model UN committees.

"When you sit and listen to the debates, you know that these young adults have truly worked hard and are developing critical skills to be our leaders of tomorrow. There are students from seventh and eighth grade to seniors ready to graduate in this competition. They learn from each other and I couldn't be more proud of them," Assemblyman Alfano concluded.