{"id":184577,"date":"2026-03-09T19:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/184577\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:08","slug":"fgcu-grad-delivers-keynote-address-at-2026-southwest-florida-model-un-wgcu-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/184577\/","title":{"rendered":"FGCU grad delivers keynote address at 2026 Southwest Florida Model UN | WGCU News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year hundreds of thousands of students in dozens of countries act as delegates in a simulation of the United Nations. These Model UNs<\/a> are academic competitions that teach students diplomacy and international relations \u2014 but they also help students build empathy for others and better understand the delicate balance negotiating with someone you might disagree with often requires.<\/p>\n

The 33rd annual Southwest Florida Model UN<\/a> was held on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University last week. More than 340 students from Lee, Collier, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties gathered to engage in fast-paced diplomacy, debate, and problem-solving focused on some of the most pressing, current global challenges. It\u2019s sponsored by the Naples Council on World Affairs<\/a> in partnership with FGCU.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s keynote speaker was Andrea Bedoya. She\u2019s a 2020 graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University, and since leaving FGCU with her Political Science degree her career has already spanned four continents and a wide range of global service experiences. She\u2019s helped conduct marine conservation research in Ghana, and taught English in Spain and Cambodia. Her current job is U.S. Deputy Trek Director at buildOn<\/a>, it\u2019s an international nonprofit. In her role she coordinates service-learning programs that partner U.S. students with under-resourced communities in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Senegal. She stopped by the studio while she was back on campus to chat.<\/p>\n

Guest:
Andrea Bedoya, U.S. Deputy Trek Director at buildOn<\/a>; keynote speaker at the 2026 Southwest Florida Model United Nations; and a 2020 graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University.<\/p>\n

WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and\u00a0donate now<\/a>. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year hundreds of thousands of students in dozens of countries act as delegates in a simulation of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-184577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}