This past Sunday, over 150 students from 12 schools all over New England arrived at Choate to attend ChoateMUNC IV, the name for the fourth annual model U.N. conference hosted by Choate. Throughout the day, attendees broke up into five committees that varied in size, topic, and complexity. In these committees allowed the student delegates a place to voice their own opinions on the issues at hand while following parliamentary procedure.
This year’s theme, chosen by Choate MUN’s Secretary General Melody Li ’18, was environmental issues. The theme of environmental issues was first proposed after Li attended a Yale Environmental Law Panel while at the KEC last year. Specific committee topics from the day included natural disaster relief, the South China Sea, and Arctic security.
For many, ChoateMUNC offers an opportunity to learn from others. Shade Mazer ’19, who has been working with the Crisis Committee since her freshman year noted that thoughout the day, “You really see growth in the way the [delegates] debate with one another. They get more and more confident with themselves.”
Participants in last Sunday’s Model United Nations Conference exchange ideas in Elman Auditorium.
Not only do the delegates gain experience through this event, they are also able to enjoy themselves and create lasting friendships. “It’s really amazing how much passion these delegates have,” said Ananya Karanam ’18, who was the Director for the Crisis Committee. Mazer said, “It offers the unique opportunity for kids from completely different schools to find ways to work together.”
Each committee meeting is split up into two parts, a two-and-a-half hour session before lunch, and a three-and-a-half hour session after, leaving ample time for the delegates to relax, take a break, and chat in between. Inside each committee, delegates are given time for moderated and unmoderated caucuses, in which they are able to discuss and debate the viewpoints of their country, in both formal and informal settings. The ultimate goal at the end is to be able to take some sort of action for the issue that is given. For each committee, there is also usually a moderator, who interacts with the delegates, and a co-chair, both of whom make sure the committee is running smoothly and act as judges who ultimately decide as to who should win the awards.
Intricate planning went into the event. “We wanted to make our conference fun for people,” commented Li. The main coordinators of this event, or the Secretariat, included Li, Amanda Lin ’18, Saleha Farooqui ’18, Joanna Ding’ 19, and Polina Ermoshkina ’19. This group, along with 25 other student staff members created name tags, background guides, information packets, and a detailed website, along with much more, for the delegates.
“We’re a very committed group of people,” Li added. “[The staff] has been very dedicated throughout the process.” The staff, which is composed of Choate students from every grade, offered another way for experienced and not-so-experienced MUN members to be able to gain insight into how different committees are run without having to participate. Not only does Choate boast one of the most student-run MUN clubs, but ChoateMUNC has grown exponentially since it first started just four years ago, gaining increasing momentum and popularity.
In the end, it’s all about the experience. “Choate’s MUN motto is to have fun and win prizes, in that order,” said Karanam. Li added, “I hope that delegates walked away having sharper MUN skills and cultivate a new consciousness regarding the intersectionality between environmental and geopolitical issues.”
