Annika Khurana, News Editor
@akhuranacourant
The Model United Nations club attended their first in-person conference in two years at Georgetown University from February 17th-20th, marking an end to virtual events and a hybrid meeting schedule.
History teacher and Model UN advisor Paul Phillips oversaw the shift from virtual conferences to in-person events being incorporated into the club’s schedule. “There’s been a lot more energy,” Mr. Phillips said. “The kids really look forward to going to the in-person conferences because they get to meet people from other schools and deal with them face-to-face.”
According to Model UN Senior Captain Savannah Phillips, the club took a hit in participation and involvement due to the shift to virtual conferences and meetings. “People generally felt less motivated to participate in virtual conferences since one of the biggest appeals of our club is the experience of going to in-person conferences,” Savannah said. “This year with everything returning to fully in-person, we saw a really good turnout in the beginning of the year and we’ve been able to recruit new members since then.”
Although the research process for the North American Invitational Model United Nations (NAIMUN) conference at Georgetown remained the same as that for virtual events, there was more at stake when attending the in-person conference. “There’s nowhere to hide when you’re in-person,” Mr. Phillips said. “The preparation was perhaps more intense, but more in the practical side of things rather than in the actual research.”
The club has seen improvements in both motivations and successes with the shift back to in-person events. “I feel much more motivated for in-person conferences because the committee meetings are much more engaging and I receive a lot of support from fellow delegates at NCHS,” Junior club member Kira Titova said. “I got a recognition at NAIMUN, so it looks like I have greater success at in-person conferences.”
Motivation for the Georgetown conference was channelized by the club leaders, who organized morning meetings leading up to NAIMUN and handled logistical preparations. “We had to make sure all the students ordered or scheduled their PCR tests in the specific time window before the conference and make sure all attending delegates were vaccinated,” Savannah said.
According to Mr. Phillips, the club leadership organized preparations in the form of morning meetings for one more in-person college conference at Cornell from April 21st to 24th. A normal year, however, would have entailed additional in-person events. “Normally, we have five college conferences in a year plus The Hague, which is the big international event we go to in January,” Mr. Phillips said. “On top of that, we meet with local teams to scrimmage and get in the zone when we’re preparing for our big conferences.”
Apart from the exposure to current world issues and duties of the UN, the club serves to strengthen bonds between members when attending in-person events. “People look out for each other, treat each other with respect, and have fun together as we always manage to do some outside activities apart from just attending the conferences,” Mr. Phillips said. “When we were in DC, we spent some time at the monuments and we’d all eat together as a team.”
Freshman Annabelle Bristol, a new member of the club, felt she was able to create lasting memories and friendships during the Georgetown conference. “There was one moment where we were all at a family-style Italian restaurant, and reflective of our environment, we all acknowledged how we really all felt like a family,” she said.
As Model UN makes its return back to a state of normalcy, there will be increased opportunities for camaraderie between club members as well as experiencing all that an in-person conference has to offer, from preparation to being exposed to a different environment. “I had so much fun on the Georgetown trip, and I met a lot of great people that I didn’t really interact with before,” Kira said. “I think in-person time with the club members really strengthened our dynamic, and I felt more comfortable asking for help from more experienced members.”
