This past Thursday, the UNA-Rockies chapter celebrated UN Day with a webinar featuring lightning talks from board members, interns, and volunteers. Each speaker shared insights into their work with the chapter and its efforts to advance the United Nations’ goals. The presentations highlighted the diverse ways UNA-Rockies members contribute to advocacy, humanitarian initiatives, and global engagement, offering both inspiration and valuable perspectives. Below is a summary of each lightning talk, along with a link to the full presentation on our YouTube channel, @UNArockies.
Daryl Wallace
Eight Decades of the UN, and How We Carry It in Colorado | Daryl Wallace, UNA Rockies | UN Day 2026
Daryl (President of UNA Rockies) walks through the history of the UN from its inception in 1945 through its eight phases of evolution (decolonisation, peacekeeping, the shift to sustainable development, etc.). He looks at the tangible impact of the UN and the journey from the Millennium Goals to the SDGs, highlighting what has worked and where we are still falling short. He then maps the historic phases of the UN to the six pillars of the UNA’s work. He brings it to a month-by-month account of what the chapter has done over the last year and what’s in store for the future (discussion series, the Human Rights Award, the school-wide MUN rollout, etc.). He finishes by mentioning the roughly 30 volunteers in the chapter and inviting people to get involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMyrjUts9I
Jill Wilson
Think Global, Belong Local: Find Your Own Way to Make a Difference | Jill Wilson | UN Day 2026
Jill Wilson touches on her experience in finding community at UNA Rockies. She begins by discussing the 17 SDGs and actually doing the work on the ground…and in the water. She then goes through the various ways you can get involved with UNA Rockies (internships, Model UN, the Peace Faire, UN Day, the Human Rights Awards, advocacy workshops, and volunteering) and find your community. She finishes on the theme of 'Think Global. Belong Local”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY4gPT9yWt8&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=2
Robert McNown
From Colorado to East Africa: UNA Rockies’ Humanitarian Projects | Robert McNown | UN Day 2026
Robert covers the charity and humanitarian work of the chapter. The International Human Rights Award (which has been running since 1986, with the 2026 nominations closing 20th November) is one of the major initiatives. There's also ongoing work to fundraise for Bidii Primary School in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. He's involved with the Kellermann Foundation’s work with the Batwa people and Bwindi Community Hospital in Uganda. Project C.U.R.E. medical supply donations are another area of activity, as are the broadband sign-up events we've had for refugee and Latino families in the area of Denver. There is a clean water project in Kagola, Kenya, which is still looking for partners. The final appeal is to the audience to nominate, volunteer, or donate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlprIh8iUmI&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=3
Ashley Stout
The Humanitarian Spirit of Childhood: What Children Imagine and What Adults Make Possible | Ashley Stout | UN Day 2026
Ashley shares findings from her Georgetown University research exploring how children ages 7–14 imagine helping their communities during disasters, and how adults shape their opportunities to contribute. Through conversations, visual prompts, and drawings, children imagined caring for neighbors, designing emergency shelters and medical facilities, and supporting families through recovery. Yet children also acknowledged that they sometimes hesitate to share their ideas. Building on these findings, Ashley explores how children's perspectives might inform Boulder County's ongoing Hazard Mitigation Plan update, with a potential second phase focused on co-designing a preparedness activity. Her work draws on Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Sendai Framework, and SDG 16.7, inviting us to reconsider whose voices help shape community resilience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QKRTGk3LHI&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=4
Maile Gonshak
Born Into Crisis: Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare in South Sudan | Maile Gonshak| UN Day 2026
Maile’s advocacy project and lightning talk touched on the state of maternal and newborn health in South Sudan, using WHO and UNFPA data. Her slides show a maternal mortality ratio of around 692 per 100,000 live births and about 60% of births occurring without the attendance of a skilled person. She outlines the main risks to mothers and to the newborn and the gaps in both antenatal and postnatal care. She goes on to describe how the conflict, displacement, looting of health facilities, the destruction of roads, and food insecurity all have the effect of cutting people off from care, with a particular focus on Jonglei State in 2026.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6Mum9fnw0&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=5
Edward Elmendorf
International Development: Looking Back, Today, and Forward | Edward Elmendorf | UN Day 2026
Edward's talk is structured in three parts: looking back, the state of play today, and looking forward. The history is traced from the Marshall Plan and the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee through to the move from the MDGs to the SDGs. The current situation is that we're ten years in and about two-thirds of the SDG targets are still way behind. There's a funding gap of over $4 trillion a year and less than five years to 2030. He positions the present as a choice between “chaos and decline or renewal" with reference to a US retreat and the potential for new ways of working.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui8c_ICDM84&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=6
Gabi Delatorre
IMUN 3: The Third Intergenerational Model United Nations | Gabi | UN Day 2026
Gabi’s presentation touched on IMUN 3, where high schoolers, university students, and senior community members all sat at the table. It's not a traditional Model UN with pre-prepared speeches. It's a live negotiation through the opening statements, shuttle diplomacy, a crisis, a final round, and a decision. The scenario touched on the Black Sea Grain Framework. She makes the case for mixing the generations. She finishes by inviting people to come and sit at the table.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=574NZwoEM5Q&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=7
Emilia Arevalo
From Ideas to Community: Lessons from UNA-USA at Webster University | Emilia Valentina Arevalo | UN Day 2026
Emilia looks back at her time in the UNA-USA community at Webster University, which was built on the principle of identifying a gap and then working out the solution. She asks what it was that attracted people to the community and goes on to list her key takeaways. Her core question is: How do small things actually lead to community building? For the growing UNA Rockies chapter, she suggests several practical things that could be done: a shared group chat, introducing people to one another, and just making people feel welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N9NwAEQ6iE&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=8
Audrey Patton
Communications and Social Media Outreach | Audrey Patton, UNA Rockies Intern | UN Day 2026
Audrey (UNA Rockies intern) explains how the chapter's communications work. She (along with other interns) are responsible for publishing the weekly blog posts and the newsletter, running the Instagram account, promoting events, and sharing international news and UN perspectives. She describes the social media function as one of reach, remind, and connect. Looking forward, she has three things on the agenda: promoting the new UNA Rockies rebrand across all channels, a “tiny mic' project to expand our audience with Libby, and a communications page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qBvQZghqMU&list=PLQ8rnUQdpR1o&index=9
Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, and contributed to the conversation. As UNA-Rockies continues to grow as a region-wide chapter, community dialogue strengthens our connections and brings us closer to our shared goals. Each presentation offered a unique perspective on advocacy and global engagement, and hearing how our members are working to make a difference around the world was a powerful reminder of the impact we can have together. These conversations reflect the heart of UNA-Rockies: a community united by a shared commitment to building a better world.
