On November 15th, Breck Model UN members attended a conference at Macalester College to debate international issues, with topics ranging from natural resources to mental health concerns. Model UN is a club for students to explore a wide range of global issues by simulating real-life United Nations debates. Members attend conferences and participate in various activities to learn about international relations, and how the United Nation approaches pressing issues. The club aims to help students develop their public speaking, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills while also engaging with peers from diverse backgrounds.
There are multiple conferences held throughout the year, with the goal of having representation of a country’s stances on a wide variety of issues, in similar style to the United Nations. To prepare for a conference, a group of two is assigned a country and asked to research their country’s perspective on specific topics. These groups must then write up a “position paper,” which is a summary of the county’s view on a given topic and that information is used to debate with other countries (or a group of students) at the conference. Once a debate has been held, the countries will group together to write a resolution paper that will hopefully get passed by a judge and come up with a solution to a problem—this format follows that of a true United Nations resolution.
Breck was able to send 36 students to the Macalester Conference hosted by the United Nations Association of Minnesota. The members dressed up in professional attire to act as delegates of their given countries, representing many different countries, including Croatia, Dominican Republic, and Australia.
With many new members this year, surpassing the amount there have been in previous years, the Macalester conference was extremely successful. Members were able to get a feel for what a conference is like, adding input on resolution papers and even speaking in front of their fellow delegates to discuss their position on their given issue. Overall, the experience at Macalester was a great one for all of the students involved as it introduced members to what an actual United Nations conference looks and feels like.
