Audré Park

 

Audré is honored to be an UNA-NCA at-large board member. Audré’s motivation for attending law school was to study international law with the intention of addressing global humanitarian violations, especially those affecting children. Audré spent her undergraduate years as an active Guardian Ad Litem Volunteer, a legal advocate for children in foster homes. She was then selected as an international exchange student to the Universite d’Angers in France, allowing her to develop fluency in French, a valuable skill in international fora. The year before attending law school, Audré became a full-time teacher at a public high school where she was impacted by both the monumental challenges teachers had to reach students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds as well as the students’ unlimited potential to learn. This experience followed Audré to law school where she also tutored students in under-served schools. After graduating from Boston University School of Law in 2001, Audré entered into the fields of family law and immigration law, with a focus on political asylum cases. In 2015, Audré discovered UNA-NCA’s Model UN program - offered by Global Classrooms DC - her past ideals were reignited; however she realized there was no existing chapters at her daughters’ schools. Audré was drawn to the idea of giving students an opportunity to engage in global issues by organizing and teaching the program as a parent volunteer. Five years later, with a curriculum carefully crafted by GCDC, the support of several teachers, and the dedication of a handful of parent volunteers, I am proud to say that over 70 students from both my childrens’ elementary and middle schools participate yearly in our PTA-sponsored Model UN clubs. Managing these programs has involved weekly engagement with students, allowing her to see, first-hand, how students become aware of the vital work that the UN is doing. Audré’s involvement has also given her intimate insight into the challenges that teachers face when asked to head worthy extracurricular programs such as Model UN. Sadly, if Model UN isn’t already integrated into the curriculum, many teachers just can’t carve out the time due to to the hefty demands already placed on them. Seeing how our students have gained global awareness and developed personal skills in public speaking, research and writing, Audré remains committed to sustaining these programs with the hope of keeping these programs viable in the future.

Vision Statement

UNA-NCA plays a vital role in educating our local community to the crucial work done by the United Nations and how critical US involvement is to maintaining global stability. Now, more than ever, we are challenged to strengthen US support of political, peacekeeping, policy development, and humanitarian efforts developed by the UN. The heartbeat of the US-UN relationship is global citizenship; a mindset that we must continue to strive for equitable human rights across the globe, to end conflicts, and protect our planet’s environment. In areas where the UN needs to improve its response to these challenges, UNA-NCA must strive to encourage deeper engagement to affect internal change, as opposed to disengagement which removes the US from the global table. The core of being human is the capacity to care about one another. Understanding global issues, particularly those at the root of conflict, poverty, and inequality, are critical to the prosperity of future generations, generations that will also look beyond themselves and respond accordingly.