What is Model United Nations?

What we do

   Model United Nations is a competition in which schools participate as various United Nations member states.  At the beginning of the year, we are assigned to represent a country, and then we spend several months in preparation, learning all we can about it.  Each team member is assigned a committee to sit on (some well-known ones are the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council), and then their main preparation in policy comes in the form of a position paper.  We then hone each member's debate skills, which they will use to caucus with other member states, and eventually write resolutions to solve world problems.  Students benefit in many ways: development of research skills and public speaking abilities, seeing the world in a broader view, and learning about dedication and time management.

Record of Excellence

   Our team, under the direction of Dr. Jason Ackleson, has developed a strategy for building upon our successes, year after year.  In order to place well at the National Model United Nations (NMUN) Conference that we attend every year, delegates must fully grasp their country's identity.  This means leaving American identities at the door to our conference rooms and becoming Egyptians, or Spaniards, or whichever nationalities we represent that year.  This means we must know international policies as well as those of our country and then apply them to a role-playing setting.  The teams who win each year are the delegations that stay in character for the entirety of the conference.

   Our record speaks for itself.   In 2005, representing the Philippines, our team earned its first award, an Honorable Mention; this is a third place finish.  In 2006, we bested ourselves representing the League of Arab States and won a second place recognition of Distinguished Delegation.  We received Distinguished Delegation the next year when we represented Spain (and Denmark on the Additional Security Council), but also earned the Outstanding Position Papers award.  Finally, in 2008, we represented Egypt and won not only the Outstanding Position Papers award, but also placed first with an Outstanding Delegation award.