Model UN attended the Northwestern University Model United Nations (NUMUN) conference from Thursday, April 10 through Sunday, April 13. Due to scheduling conflicts, this year was unique, as only freshmen and sophomores attended the conference.
“When we signed up for Northwestern, there was a conflict with prom,” said Evan Schmidt, social studies teacher and Model UN advisor. “Prom has since moved, but that happened after we established who was going and what they were doing, so we had 27 underclassmen going to this conference.”
Nathan Berkowitz, senior, is the vice president of the Model UN executive board. During the past few weeks, the executive board has been helping the club prepare for NUMUN.
“We meet once a week on Monday,” Berkowitz said. “We go through [everything] from the [conference] schedule to how Model UN works in general because it is a new conference for a lot of people.”
Students are required to research and write a position paper explaining the opinions of the country or entity they are representing. Then, at the conference, delegates representing a range of countries and entities come up with a resolution for a political issue together.
“You don’t really win Model UN,” Schmidt said. “The goal is really to solve problems that we all face as humans in a way that most countries and most people think is the best option.”
Daniela Price, sophomore in Model UN, notes how some of the more informal aspects to debate can lead to increased collaboration.
“There’s a part where we can all talk together casually, form groups and try to form ideas collaboratively, and then another part where it’s more formal debate, [where] we work together to come up with solutions that will work for everyone,” Price said.
NUMUN offers a more diverse range of committee assignments compared to other conferences.
“There are several committees that aren’t comprised of country representatives but instead historical figures, or NBA basketball players, or the press corps; we have a student representing a newspaper,” Schmidt said.
This year, NUMUN is offering a new committee, the NBA Collective Bargaining Lockout.
“NBA players and NBA owners are going to be coming together to solve problems connected to the way players feel about how they’re compensated and treated,” Schmidt said. “Two students [from SHS] will represent players and another person is going to represent an owner.”
Even though he isn’t able to attend, Berkowitz and the rest of the executive board has been preparing students for NUMUN through presentations, conversations, and recommendations.
“All of us on the executive board try to lead the students in how to do [conferences] because it can be an intimidating process,” Berkowitz said.
Schmidt notes that the executive board has been doing a great job running the club this year.
“The executive board, headed by Andrina Roberts, has been exceptional,” Schmidt said. “I really could not ask for more. I’ve just been really impressed and really grateful for the leadership of the board.”
Out of the three conferences SHS’s MUN club attends annually, NUMUN is Berkowitz’s favorite.
“I love it because you’re meeting a bunch of people close to home, and I think it’s a perfect mix of fun and rigor,” Berkowitz said.
Conferences like NUMUN also help students grow academically, allowing them to deepen their understanding of content.
“What I love about these conferences is they provide an opportunity for students to use the content that they’ve learned and the skills that they’ve developed in a simulation that we can’t replicate here at Shorewood,” Schmidt said.
Price echoed Schmidt’s statement, emphasizing opportunities to practice other life skills.
“For me, this is huge for [improving] my public speaking, and for the whole club, it’s really important to learn how to be in a professional environment and formally interact with people,” Price said.
Additionally, the conference allowed students to gain experiences that will give them an advantage in the future.
“I think being immersed in a professional environment is really good for when [students] move on to actually do real jobs, [because] most people don’t get that experience before a certain age. It’s really educational too…you learn about what’s going on around you,” Price said.
NUMUN is the last conference of the year, so after it is over the club will start planning for next year.
“We have elections for the executive board, which is composed of five students, and then that group will plan out the next year,” Schmidt said.
Committees:
Ad Hoc Committee, African Union, Chicago Transit Authority, Death of Alexander the Great, Falklands War: Electing Raul Alfonsin, G77, Hallyu, IAEA, JCC: Louis XVI’s Cabinet, JCC: the Third Estate, NBA Collective Bargaining Lockout, Press Corps, Sticky Situation: Boston City Government, Three Kingdoms