With the bang of a gavel, the tenth graders kicked off their yearly United Nations simulation on Friday, April 4. This annual event is characterized by the unmistakable sight of students parading around campus in their “western business attire” looks, and hearing the distinct chatter of debriefing after an intense committee. As it is a longstanding tradition at Masters, both teachers and students alike dutifully prepare for this annual event, making it a favorite among the Masters community.
At the beginning of the process, students must choose a country to speak for and a committee to be a part of, ranking their choices in an ordered list based on what they want the most. From there, students then must write a position paper on the country that they are representing, gathering information like its geography, its governing style, and its population along the way.
“We chose a committee and we had to gather information about it and our country, and then we wrote a position paper about where we stood with our country and the issue, and how we were gonna go about fixing it,” sophomore Sam Friedman said.
Sophomores have their required MUN conference every year, with lots of preparation and planning going into it months prior. As a first step, students must choose their country and the committee they want to be in, ranking it in order of what they most want. Then, they write a speech and a general background of their country as it relates to their committee.
While many aspects of tenth grade MUN are similar to normal MUN, there are some major differences that impact many members of the Model UN team at Masters. MUN member, sophomore, and Secretary General Talia Hird said, “There are a lot of things about MUN that just do not align with the tenth grade MUN, like writing a position paper in advance.”
Depending on what committee they are placed in, students gather around a big harkness table and spread out around campus. During the conference, students go up to make their speech, and then they debate about the issue they’re a part of.
Students are also required to dress in the traditional MUN attire, which means formal. “I think one of the best parts about MUN is wearing the outfits,” said Hird.
