UA students will help high school students from the Southwest learn more about the world around them during a model United Nations conference today and tomorrow.

The Arizona Model United Nations, in its 34th year, is an annual simulation of a real UN meeting, said Bevin McArthur, political science and history senior. High school students assume the roles of ambassadors and are placed on committees to discuss current world problems.

AMUN is the Arizona group of a worldwide organization of United Nation simulations. The conference occurs all over the United States and Mexico.

The UA students working with the AMUN group will act as the presidents, moderators and legal assistants during committee meetings to help the high school students keep on track, McArthur said.

High school student groups are divided into two students per country and then placed on one of the nine committees.

"They have to know their countries' policies," said McArthur. "The (high school) students spend all year preparing for the conference."

Twenty-five to 40 high schools from California, New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico attend the conference each year with about 50 to 200 students at each conference.

This year is the second for AMUN to offer a simultaneous conference conducted in Spanish. UA students involved with the Spanish conference are bilingual.

But AMUN is worried that the Spanish conference will not be able to continue because the student directors are graduating.

"Thirty students are coming from Escuela Siglo 21, a Nogales, Sonora school," McArthur said. "They heard about (the conference) all the way down to Mexico."

Keijo Korhonen, faculty adviser and professor of political science at the UA, agrees that the all-Spanish program is a good idea.

"If you accept one more language plus your own, you confirm the idea of the UN," Korhonen said. Korhonen was an ambassador for Finland for 25 years and has worked with AMUN for two.

"(The experience) gives understanding of a great number of cultures," Korhonen said. "It's almost comparable to a trip abroad."

Jeff Schrade, political science sophomore, attended as a high school student and helped put together this year's conference.

"(College students) are there to act simply as monitors. It's a hands-off job," Schrade said. "Basically we are there to make sure fights don't break out between countries."

The AMUN begins tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Gallagher Theatre with an opening plenary session during which all countries will be introduced. Nabil A. Elaraby, Egyptian ambassador to the UN will speak at 6 p.m. with a question-and-answer session following. Committee sessions will begin Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday. For information call 798-1165.