Charlotte Beecher, Reporter
@Charlottebcour1
The Model United Nations (Model UN) club has made many changes this year to ensure members are still getting the full experience when they join the club while also accommodating to COVID-19 restrictions. Usually participating in five college conferences each year up and down the East coast, the club has shifted to attending conferences virtually. Most recently, the Model UN club was planning an in person scrimmage for New Canaan students, however, that event has also been changed to a virtual scrimmage.
Senior Model UN Captain Olivia Licata spoke about change in planning and participation. “They are all hosting their scrimiages virtually, or their conferences virtually which is not as great of an experience you could ask a lot of MUN club members but half the fun is going on the trip with your friends and being all together so it’s a bit of a bummer to be in your room doing these conferences ” Like Olivia, Paul Phillips, Model UN Administrator, said that “It’s not as easy to get excited about an online conference, as it is to get excited about an in-person conference”. He also said “One of the things about the club that is appealing is being able to get to meet students from other places.”
The news about their upcoming virtual conference was received on Wednesday, January 27. Although disappointing, “… it was known it was going to be a possibility to make it virtual the entire time, so it doesn’t come as a huge shock,” Olivia said. Mr. Phillips noted that virtual conferences lack the travel experience, but still offer the opportunity to participate in the debate aspect of the club.
Olivia spoke about how these changes have affected the club overall, and how the members feel about conferences. “There’s a little bit less excitement around the club at the moment just because people really look forward to doing the in person conferences and going on the trips,” she said. “This year we don’t have that to offer, so there are definitely less people who are interested. I hope that next year once the in person conferences get started again the club will just go right back to where it was.”
However, virtual conferences have their advantages, according to some students. “Virtual conferences are great as well, and they really force you to focus on what you’re really talking about and focus more on your skills and your speaking,” Olivia said. “It takes away a lot of the distractions.”
However, COVID-19 has also created potential opportunities for the Model UN club. “I bet a lot of these colleges will now have, in the future, a virtual option in addition to an in person option,” Olivia said. “This is great because we could basically participate in any conference in the world.” Mr. Phillips said, “At this stage we have stuck to the conferences that we normally go to.” To date, they have virtually attended a Brown University conference, and are planning to virtually attend Georgetown University, Cornell University, and Dartmouth College conferences before the end of the school year.
Looking toward the future, Olivia said that they are hopeful that they may be able to fit in a New Canaan students only, in person conference later in the spring if conditions allow. “We had originally intended on planning in the spring another New Canaan-only scrimmage, hopefully in school, and we’ll see what happens,” she said. “That’s our hope for doing something in person this year.”
