From Jan. 19-22, KO’s Model United Nations group attended Yale’s 49th YMUN (Yale Model UN) conference. KO’s 36 members competed with schools from across the globe, participated in committee discussions, wrote resolutions on global issues, and made new friends.
Since this year was the first time returning to an in-person format, it was projected that both KO and Yale would have fewer participation, whether it be for health or travel reasons, yet both found extreme dedication from their delegates. The event attracted over 1,500 students, and KO’s team brought in great interest from juniors and seniors.
The interest in KO’s group was so high that students had to apply to be in the club. As the conference continues to be held in person on Yale’s campus, it is projected that interest will continue to increase.
Representing the delegations from India and Saudi Arabia, KO’s team dove into the research and preparation for the conference. Upper School history teacher and advisor to KO’s model UN team Stacey Savin talked about the preparation necessary for representing different countries. “You must find out about their alleged position, the position they say they have, and what is actually playing out within the country,” she said.
Within committees ranging from Special Political and Decolonization to Squid Games, the conference looked different for every delegate, which is what makes the event so unique. No two people will approach the resolution from the same angle, yet many delegates will have to agree on one to solve the issue.
In order to truly encapsulate the proper attitude towards resolutions being voted on in committee, students needed to find out what their respective country wants, what it has to be relieved of, and what its delegation is willing to compromise on.
Making this opinion heard is a separate task. “The most challenging part of the committee was mustering up the confidence to actually be involved in the conversations going on and not take the easy road of just sitting back and letting others take charge,” senior Aidan Ladewig said.
The energy in the room with 15 to 80 other delegates who are equally as dedicated to the goal as you, can be nerve-racking. Whether experience with making motions or writing resolutions is your strong suit, Ms. Savin says that the sole secrets to success are content knowledge, diplomacy, and creativity.
Given two topics to research, it is common that debate is so intense between delegates that most committees only reach a resolution for one topic. With almost twenty hours in session over the weekend, it is truly a testament to the intricacies that must be reached within papers to satisfy all of those involved.
This gives the delegates a small glimpse into the processes of the United Nations. As nerve-racking as it may be to reach a mock agreement, it is difficult to imagine the idea of making decisions that will affect the population of an entire country.
A less intense aspect of the conference is the experiences that delegates have between the motion-making and familiarizing themselves with a dire global issue. While freedom to roam in New Haven is difficult to structure, delegates were welcome to go out to eat between sessions with new friends made in their committees.
Many students learned about new cultures, habits, and languages at the conference, not from the country they spent days studying, but from the home of those who sat next to them in session.
The majority of delegates at the conference were able to attend committee meetings in Yale classrooms on campus. The chairs monitoring debate were also Yale students, giving the high school students a first-hand account of life studying at an Ivy League school.
In all, this year’s YMUN conference offered KO students an opportunity to improve their public speaking skills, bravery in debate, and ability to compromise. Happy to be back in person, members old and new will remember the experience.
