On November 7, Shorewood’s Model UN students traveled to Kenosha to participate in the Model UN conference at Carthage College (CCMUN). As the first conference of the year, it helps new members ease into Model UN.
“We go to [Carthage] first because it’s a learning conference, so it’s really prioritized for newer students or people that haven’t done Model UN in the past and are just still getting used to it,” said Nicole Magin, social studies teacher and Model UN advisor.
At the conference, students represent countries just like in the real United Nations, working together to address matters of international concern.
“It’s a big group of different countries who come together to form solutions on various topics,” said Sophie Hanna, senior and Model UN Exec Board Secretary. “Everyone gets assigned to a different committee and placed into a conference, which range from a bunch of topics that can be kind of silly or really significant to political issues happening [right now].”
Students are assigned to specific committees based on their level of experience, with seasoned students representing more prominent countries.
“Students are split up into different assemblies to discuss predetermined topics that they write position papers on,” Magin said. “Newer students are normally put into larger committees where there’s more people, so they have less pressure on them to talk a lot, and more experienced students are assigned to more influential countries like the United States, Russia, Germany, the UK, or are put into smaller groups, so they have more responsibility.”
For the general assembly, the largest committee, the topic of discussion was the Proliferation of Weapons and Small Arms Trade and the Proliferation and Use of Chemical weapons. The Security Council, or the more advanced group, is discussing the future of Syria and the Myanmar Civil War.
“There’s two other small committees, one that deals with the peaceful uses of outer space, and the other one is focusing on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Magin said.
Hanna, who is part of the Elimination of Space Threats committee, looks forward to adopting a different perspective for the conference.
“I got assigned to Russia so I’m assuming I won’t be the most popular in my committee, but I’m going to try and build alliances with other countries who have similar viewpoints,” Hanna said. “I’m kind of excited because I’ve ne=er been a more controversial country.”
Hanna also became part of Model UN’s exec board this year and experienced a different side of the preparation process.
“I really love Model UN, but it’s been a lot of work,” Hanna said. “We’re doing Harvard interviews right now…but in general, it’s more like making slideshows and making sure everyone’s prepared for the conferences.”
For a regular member, preparation involves writing a position paper detailing their country’s stance and relation to the topic at hand, as well as proposals. Writing this type of paper is often a new experience for students as well as the deeper look into global politics it provides.
“Writing the position paper was a little bit different [from my experience],” said Sarvesh Vinod Kumar, freshman attending Carthage. “Learning about how a whole system in the UN actually works is pretty interesting because I’m really passionate about politics and what goes on in the world.”
Since this will be Magin’s first year as club advisor, she too will have many new experiences, but she is supported by her predecessor and the club’s many experienced members.
“I think we have a very strong, long lasting Model UN program at Shorewood, which really makes us stick out,” Magin said. “Our old advisor, Mr. Evan Schmidt, worked a lot on making the club bigger…and he’s been a huge help to me. Our executive board has been very, very helpful. They’re very organized, putting in a ton of hours to help instruct our newest members on how Model UN works doing interviews and a ton of work behind the scenes.”
These aspects of Shorewood’s Model UN will help them compete against the other 25 schools that are going to Carthage this year. Additionally as her first year advising Model UN, Magin’s goals are more foundational than a veteran advisor’s might be.
“My goal for Carthage is learning a lot more about the process of how Model UN works… I wasn’t able to do Model UN in my high school since they didn’t offer it so I’m just trying to learn more about how it works,” said Magin.
At the conference, senior and Model UN President JD Thiel won Best Delegate in the Security Council, junior and Vice President Catalina Perez won Second Best Delegate, senior Joby Collopy won Second Best Delegate, and senior Peter Haigh won Third Best Delegate.
