Five U-High students hosted the first Model UN summit of the 25-26 school year at Normal Community High School on Friday, October 3rd. They were joined by students from local schools, including Bloomington, Central Catholic, Normal Community, and Normal Community West.
Model United Nations, or Model UN, is a simulation club in which students act as delegates from an assigned country to write, debate, and pass legislation. Delegates must research the political views of their country in order to respond to bills appropriately. Model UN is a great club to advance public speaking skills and worldly political knowledge.
“I think talking about current world affairs is extremely important, and I think that’s something we explore in Model UN really well,” co-president and senior Shreya Patel said.
Typically, members prepare their speeches to debate others in the hope that they pass bills or have a good round of speaking. In order to pass a bill, members of the entire summit must negotiate the terms and what the bill means for their country, find ways to change it, and finally pass or adopt the resolution. These summits can last from a few hours to a full week, depending on how many bills or resolutions are debated.
Individuals do not necessarily win a summit; however, they can get their papers passed and be recognized as “best delegate,” – an award given to a member of the summit who has had the most well-thought-out and prepared speeches and is deemed the overall most knowledgeable at the summit. The recent summit did not include passing speeches or recognizing “best delegate”, yet the U-High team still found their experience successful. “As a team, we did pretty well. We got a lot of newer people out talking and making resolutions and talking to other schools,” Patel shared.
According to co-president and senior Ray Parmonova, Model UN is about diplomacy, growth, and collaboration. At the recent summit, members did just that. “We were passing resolutions, which we haven’t really done before, and we all went [up to speak] 2 to 3 times,” senior Hash Vinothasha said.
The team is proud of their initial performance, and they hope to carry on their success by participating in more local summits as well as attending a summit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on April 17th and 18th.
Model UN is a great club to join for those interested in improving their public speaking, knowledge of foreign politics, and/or fast problem-solving skills. Students who have questions or want to join Model UN are encouraged to reach out to co-presidents Shreya Patel and Ray Parmonova. “[Model UN] is so much fun, but low commitment, and it looks great on college applications, and it gives you great life skills like public speaking,” Parmonova said.