NC’s Model United Nations (MUN) team attended Kennesaw State University’s (KSU) 32nd High School Model United Nations Conference on March 23 and 24. Students from across the state spent two days serving as mock delegates from various nations and working in different committees, such as the General Assembly and Human Rights Council, where students must work with other “delegates” to create solutions to assigned topics.

“It’s been very educational and informative being a delegate, and it’s taught me a lot about teamwork and collaboration,” Galloway High School junior Sophie Schneider said.

Students represent a wide array of nations and their positions. This task requires students to place themselves in the shoes of said nations and delve into why any one nation views an issue. As a result, this process requires extensive preparation on the part of the student, most evidently shown in the form of their position paper.

Humorously referred to as “your bible throughout the conference,” the position paper essentially details how a country views an issue, their history with the issue, and a proposed solution. In the case of the 2018 conference, the criteria for the paper included “Relevance to Topics,”“Recommendation for Change,”and “Country Policy Specificity and Accuracy.” However, as stressful as the delegate role appears, the benefits therein possess the potential to leave an impressive mark on the future of the student, as well as produce a flourishing of their social conscious.

“Model United Nations not only encourages public speaking, it fosters awareness of current events, whether or not students want to pursue a career in diplomacy,” Assistant Director of the General Assembly Plenary Matthew Hunnicutt said.

The conference held great value to the NC MUN club, not just because of the proximity, but because of the work each delegate put into it.

“The [KSU] conference is always the last conference we attend during the competitive season, and it means a lot to us. We’ve worked hard and had fantastic success, and I believe that our students have made great personal strides during the course of this year. I know that many of our students won their first awards ever during this conference, and we saw all of our students truly represent their countries to the best of their abilities,” MUN sponsor and AP World History teacher Carolyn Galloway said.  

The delegates’ hard work certainly paid off, with senior Juliana Isbitts winning a conference award for her representation of the Republic of Poland. Despite the relative lack of group awards, the team managed to walk out with more faith in their abilities.

“Last conference, my very first conference, I didn’t feel that I was as prepared for the conference as I was. I did well enough, but I’m a lot more prepared at this conference, mainly for speaking,” freshman Sonal Bhugra said.

Looking towards the future, the MUN team at KSU already knows what they plan on improving for the conference next year.

“We’re definitely going to upgrade our technology, as we’ve been using the same website for the last few years. More specifically, we want to integrate Google Docs for students, as well as make it easier to convert resolutions to PDF forms,” Secretary General of the KSU department Helen Smith said.

Despite not winning the overall at conference, the sense of pride instilled by Dr. Roach, head sponsor of the NC MUN team, may serve the club just as well.

“We are so proud of them [the club], and so glad we got to go to the best MUN conference in the state,”  Roach said.