Delegates persevere through demanding conference
From Thursday to Sunday, the historic Palmer House hotel in downtown Chicago was transformed into a convention center for Model UN University of Chicago participants. Over 2000 students from around the world participated in the conference. The conference is considered the preeminent event in the SHS MUN calendar.
At 6 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 4, 26 sleepy but excited delegates boarded a Lakefront Lines coach and began a six hour bus ride toward downtown Chicago.
Senior Madeleine Driscoll said, “I’d been to two other Model UN conferences, but this was by far the biggest and most exciting. I met kids from China, Guatemala, Italy, and all over America. It was an incredible experience.”
The students were heading toward the University of Chicago Model United Nations conference (MUNUC), one of the largest MUN conferenced in America. This was the 28th consecutive iteration of MUNUC.
The conference itself was made up of 26 different committees, ranging in subject from how best to restrict the funding of illicit terrorist organizations, to historical bodies such as the 1979 Interim Government of Iran.
Senior Samuel Myers said, “My committee was the Cabinet of India Circa 1947. It concerned India three days after Britain left, post partition. I represented Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the 1947 Indian Minister of Industries and Supplies.”
During committee, students’ interactions with delegates from other schools was purely professional, and centered solely around the topic at hand.
Myers said, “It was taken extremely seriously, with no toleration for broken character. The Dais of the committee, a University of Chicago student, took pains to make sure the committee was as realistic as possible.”
The trip may have centered around Model UN, but advisors Ms.Tara Schoeny and Mrs. Tiffany Stewart made sure to allow students time to get a taste of the city of Chicago.
Senior Daniel Mills said, “We could eat wherever we wanted close by, as long as we went in large groups. We also got to see significant Chicago attractions, such as The Bean and Navy Pier. It was a really cool way to spend our time outside of committee.”
Underlying the pretext of Model UN was a chance for students to meet and create connections with students from all over the world who shared similar academic interests.
Senior Martin Gonzalez said, “The amount of awesome people I met was incredible. There were so many interesting students from all over the country. The relationships I made added so much to my overall experience.”
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