History
League of Creative Minds was formally incorporated as an educational nonprofit organization on February 17, 2009. However, long before the formal incorporation would take place, in the fall of 2007, Catarina Williams and Simon Olavarria, two young lawyers, began the original Model UN program at the Nueva School. As the Nueva School did not have a Model UN program at their school, Catarina, at the time working in the administration of The Nueva School, began the first MUN program at Nueva, as an informal academy.
Simon, a life long delegate himself, volunteered a year to teaching MUN at Nueva in this informal academy setting. Eight founding delegates formed the first delegation that traveled to Haarlem, The Netherlands, in March of 2008. This initial Model UN conference and wonderful experience the delegation had living on a dairy farm in Waterland, is one that will never be forgotten. Developing the curriculum, teaching the classes one day per week and every weekend, organizing logistics, and securing the funding to travel, Catarina and Simon began the process of evaluating an expansion of this concept over to an educational non-profit, to provide this forum for all high-potential students, from all socio-economic backgrounds, in the Bay Area, and not exclusively to one school.
A decision took place in the summer of 2008, when one exemplary founding delegate emailed the two Directors wondering how the program would run as a non-profit and offering his words of courage, support and confidence. This particular delegate was 12 years old at the time, but it was enough for the two directors to understand that they planted a seed that kept growing on its own. The two directors, with the support of many wonderful parents, friends and teachers, were able to expand and have two delegations.
2008 - 2009 (2nd year pilot)
The League expanded to 25 delegates. They competed at Mission Viejo, Berkeley, and at the Elliott School of International affairs, at George Washington University. Catarina and Simon volunteered for a second year while developing and testing the class model of what would become a formal organization. Taking what they established in the first year pilot, the second year pilot, involved students from four different schools, additional conferences, and was a complete success.
2009 - 2010
The League enrolled 75 delegates from the surrounding Bay Area. The League opened its first Hall of Debate in October of 2009. Delegates travel to attend League classes at the LCM HQ in Burlingame, California, from Saratoga to Half Moon Bay to Marin and beyond.
Long Term Thinking
The endeavors of the League thus far, have led to the creation of a social-educational nonprofit, League of Creative Minds, aimed at enhancing early leadership development for youth nationwide. The League is pioneering a multi-sector approach to academic development that uses the concept of diplomacy as a decision-making tool, rather than an end goal. Current projects involve creating an inclusive international delegation and inviting high-achieving students from any socio-economic background within the Greater Bay Area; NGO capacity building related to youth entrepreneurship; public health awareness organized by youth nationwide to work in collaboration and for youth in Africa; urban health and food system awareness for youth; and international and governmental organizational knowledge in the United Nations, with a focus on UN Reform by the young generations of today.
The cross-sector nature of these future projects and the need for problem solving at the systemic level requires a mix of resources, educators, creative thinking and ideas, in order to make them a success. These ingredients are inherent in the League, and are items the League engages on a daily basis. The League itself requires leadership that will shepherd the vision and safeguard the values integral to its platform. Without a strong value proposition and thorough understanding of the League world viewpoint, the League model will risk blending into the landscape of lowered academic complacency and lose its core offering of facilitating social innovation through leadership and life skills via a challenging personal, academic and social experience.
