Eric arrived as an Urban Affairs major, but interviewed for the Model UN program (MUN), hoping to sharpen his public speaking skills and “internationalize” his education. He got so much more than he ever could have expected: studying the politics of Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Soviet Union, and China; visiting New York and meeting the diplomatic staff at the UN mission of those countries; encouragement to apply for a White House internship following the attacks of 9/11; and, most wonderfully, meeting and falling in love with his future spouse, Molly Farrell, now an attorney in Washington, D.C., and mother of their two sons, Truman and Tate.
As his former professor I can attest to the power of a program like Model UN to unlock a student’s capacity for hard work, research, writing, speaking and the energy of teamwork. MUN also focuses on understanding policy goals and devising strategies to achieve them through consensus building. Model UN has brought many small-town kids to the very big city of New York, many of them taking their very first trip on an airplane to get there.
Eric Leckey personifies that student. He has continued his education, earning his MA in national security and strategic studies at the US Naval War College and an executive certificate in Public Leadership at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University, all while rising through the ranks of the new Department of Homeland Security and now in leadership at FEMA.
Programs like Model UN are driven by the energy of faculty-staff-student collaboration, they unlock great potential and enrich community connections. When East Palestine recently suffered a devastating train derailment, FEMA was there (even though its mission addresses natural disasters), because the public knows that the agency can connect them to the array of support and services needed to recover. East Palestine insisted that FEMA come to help, which it did.
When we need a reminder of the core mission of a university, examples like this alumnus and the agency he serves — in order to serve fellow Americans in need — could not be more welcome. The School of Social Science and International Studies continues to support Model UN, and the program advisers, Professors Vaughn Shannon and Liam Anderson, have added a new high school Model UN to the spring semester calendar. Hopefully more delegates like Eric Leckey will experience the program and its many enrichments.
Editor's note: Donna Schlagheck was Wright State's National Model UN advisor from 1985 through 2015.
