From February 6 through 8, the award-winning NC Model United Nations team attended The University of Georgia’s annual high school conference, allowing strictly elite members to attend. These members included seniors Sean Brennan, Zach Connolly, Megan McMillan, Anna Levy, and Sam Fulkerson, along with juniors Rebecca Goldstein, Nolan Hubbard, Holden Haley, Anabel Prince, and Alex Flack, and sophomores Shelby Estroff and Sam Smith.

“UGA is the most competitive conference, so we take take delegates that can carry their own committee. That’s why it’s so important that they attend GSU, KSU and the New Delegate Conferences,” head delegate McMillan said about the conference.

By of the end of the three day conference, NC walked out with four awards, including best position paper for Rebecca Goldstein and Sam Fulkerson, honorable mention for Shelby Estroff, and outstanding delegate awards for Sean Brennan, Alex Flack, and Sam Smith.

“This conference was different because it was an overnight conference and you also had to be selected in order to go. Underclassmen don’t usually get to attend so I got very lucky,” Estroff said.

Delegates set their expectations high heading to UGA, holding weekly meetings every Tuesday solely focused on the conference. In the end, this preparation stood proved its worth to the delegates, as UGA undoubtedly proved the most fun conference of the year.

Despite the trip mainly focusing on the conference itself, students cited the Athens scenery  and restaurants as one of their favorite parts of the trip, with sites ranging from The Varsity, an NC tradition, to new favorites such as The Grille and Insomnia Cookies.

“It was awesome to see UGA’s campus again, get a chance to meet some students and start to learn my way around Athens,” UGA commit Levy said.

While the setting alone made for a phenomenal experience, the conference itself proved successful as well.

“This was my first year going to the UGA conference and it was amazing. It was very well organized and I enjoyed every moment. I ended up winning an award!” Estroff said.

McMillan enthusiastically agreed. “I liked UGA. The debate was good and everyone was there for the right reasons. India was a lot of fun because some of their policies are similar to the US but some aren’t. UGA is more fun than other conferences because the length allow for more debate, and the committee sizes are perfect.”

While these delegates enjoyed the conference as whole, some tend to disagree.

“I felt that the conference was fun, but it could have been a bit more organized. Some of the committees didn’t have enough structure,” Levy expressed. “The chairs could have done a better job of keeping delegates focused on the topics that were being addressed.”

Junior Nolan Hubbard also found the committees faulty at times.

“We were stuck sitting in the back on the longest day of conference, which is typically where the people who just mess around sit. They pass notes that have hangman on them rather than information pertaining to the conference,” Hubbard said. “A lot of countries were off position and in some ways making a fool of themselves.”

Overall, the MUN-ers once again had an enjoyable experience full of food, fun, and international relations.

“I think [Model UN] did excellently. Even though we didn’t win any delegation awards, I was really proud of our individual performances. The delegates were always writing and actively participating and behaving to the best of their abilities and that’s exactly what we want them to do,” MUN supervisor and AP World History teacher Ms. Galloway said.