It's the most MUN-derful time of the year

By Mackey Luffman, Model UN/Youth in Government Advisor, HS History Teacher

Let’s be honest: many people were nervous for this conference, since the delegates have had to participate in virtual conferences for the past year and half. Personal and group interaction skills were rusty, and many advisors worried that students would struggle to remember how to be polite to strangers, among other basic necessities of conferences with hundreds of attendees. 

The foundations for a successful conference had already been laid in the digital world. The delegates at the virtual Model UN of 2020 elected Greta Li '22 (autocorrect changes "Greta" to "Great" on my laptop) to be Secretary-General, the highest-ranking student officer at this student-run conference and, coincidentally, the first USN student to hold this office.  

Joining her in a leadership role was Emily Wykoff '22, elected to be one of the Vice Presidents of the General Assembly, responsible for facilitating debate in the committees and sessions of the General Assembly. Over in the International Court of Justice, responsible for resolving disputes between countries within the boundaries set by international law, students elected Arnav Reddy '22 to be a Justice of the ICJ. Riya Narayan '23 rounded out the leadership team as the President (i.e. Chief Justice) of the ICJ.

In other words, USN upperclass students offered student leadership at the highest levels, and the rest of the USN delegates picked up the slack to make this one of the best, smoothest-running conferences in some advisors’ memories.

In the General Assembly, Saudi Arabia, represented by Jude Warren '22, Chris Assouad '22, Neal Bagai '22, and Michael Kim '22, wrote a resolution to implement a nuclear disarmament structure on Iran. These MUN veterans went to the Security Council to defend their resolution, and while the Security Council ultimately said "no," the General Assembly said “yes,” as did the awards committee as these senior delegates won an Outstanding Resolution Award for their work.

Senior leadership showed up to represent Nepal also. Isaac Chomsky '22, Tate Keuler '22, and Thomas Luschen '22 crafted a resolution to fly expatriates trapped in Afghanistan by the Taliban takeover to a nearby capital city, from which they could return to their home country, using UN resources. After the resolution passed the General Assembly with flying colors, the awards committee awarded this delegation an Outstanding Resolution Award. Isaac also won an Outstanding Delegate Award for his participation in the debate on the other resolutions on the GA docket.

But the seniors weren’t the only ones earning awards, and it says something about our underclass students in the High School that after three semesters of virtual learning, freshmen and sophomores stepped up and delivered on USN traditions in these diplomatic venues. 

The delegation representing Latvia, Will Ostroski '24, Isaac Spiller '24, Xavier Warren '24, and Henry Wykoff '24, wrote a resolution to facilitate Russia’s payment of reparations to the Baltic republics for the damages suffered during the Soviet invasion and occupation of those countries in the early years of World War II. After a testy debate in the GA (and an even testier debate in the Security Council), the awards committee had the final decision by giving this delegation an Outstanding Resolution Award.

Finally, the future seems secure as a delegation of ninth graders earned accolades also. Ophelia Cherry-Pulay '25, Beckett Dahir '25, Caroline Keiper '25, and Brendan West '25, representing Germany, presented a resolution to implement a specific plan to reform and expand the Security Council. While the SC and GA ultimately voted down their resolution, the SC asked this delegation to present the SC’s own proposal for Security Council reform to the plenary session of the General Assembly, where it passed with flying colors. For their efforts, this delegation also won an Outstanding Resolution Award, and Ophelia won an Outstanding Delegate Award.

Another first-time delegate, Ella Rieniets '24, was nominated for an Outstanding Delegate Award for her participation in debates in committee and General Assembly sessions. 

Meanwhile, over in the ICJ, Riya was re-elected President (i.e. Chief Justice) of the ICJ for MUN 2022 — a first for any USN student. Additionally, Riya was honored by her fellow student officers by being chosen as the Ambassador Joe M. Rodgers Outstanding Student Leader, the YMCA Center for Civic Engagement’s equivalent of best student officer award.

It was quite a conference this year, and it was a testimony to the students from all over the state who were willing to mask up in order to come together and make the conference happen. Please congratulate these students and all the others who made the conference such a success. Special thanks to Annual Fund Director Claudia Huskey for her help in advising and chaperoning our USN delegates.