Two weekends ago, the Scarsdale High School Model UN team attended its first overnight conference in two long years, flaunting their talents at the National High School Model United Nations (NHSMUN) Conference held in New York City. “This is probably one of the biggest Model UN conferences in the world,” remarked Drew Bender ’24, a first-year member of the SHS Model UN team. Unlike the in-school or local conferences that the team has participated in previously, the NHSMUN Conference was much longer, requiring up to six hours of committee work in one day. Model UN experts from prestigious universities moderated the committee sessions, enhancing the experience. Although COVID had restricted the SHS Model UN team during the past two years, “this year, we snapped right back into it with this conference. It really just gave us the opportunity to bond and form that community that we kind of lost a little bit last year,” explained Sarah Vibbert ’23, three-year member and junior officer of the club. During their time off, the members of the Model UN team had fun walking around New York City and getting lunch together as a club. For Model UN members, the conference acted both as a learning experience and an escape from the stress of school. 

In a typical Model UN meeting, the members meet and debate a current events topic, which is selected in advance by the seven officers. The club is split into two sides who debate the topic for about 45 minutes, giving their stances on why they are either for or against it. “No matter what your real beliefs are in real life, if you get assigned to debate pro-something, you [have to] debate pro even if you don’t actually believe in that point of view,” emphasized Vibbert. In the weeks preceding this conference, the team focused more on preparing and researching their specific topics within their designated committees. After being partnered up, each pair was assigned a country they had to research to “equip [them] with the necessary knowledge to go into the debate knowing [the] country’s stance and knowing the issue and thinking about possible solutions,” according to Bender. All attendees also had to write a position paper that introduced their given topic, discussed their country’s situation regarding that topic, and suggested some possible solutions. Weeks of research and preparation led up to the actual NHSMUN Conference, where each team participated in five different committee sessions that were around three hours long each. Each pair presented their country’s beliefs and formed blocks with other countries that had similar stances regarding the specific topic, working together to write a resolution. The delegates then presented, voted, and amended each resolution. At the end of the session, a resolution was either passed or voted down. “If your resolution gets passed, good job, people agreed with you. But if you’re a country with a pretty obscure view about a topic and you read a resolution and it doesn’t pass, that’s life,” explained Vibbert.

For the first time in 11 years, the SHS Model UN team won not only one, but two awards for the school, as well as five individual awards. “This was kind of crazy because normally Scarsdale is not a winner of awards at these types of competitions,” noted Vibbert. Romir Srivastava ’23 even received the opportunity to give a plenary speech in front of over 2,000 people, impressing both his team and other teams visiting from all over the country. “You can still be great without winning an award and we like to put an emphasis on that, but it was really crazy to see that the people who do work really hard and are really talented get rewarded for it,” expressed Vibbert. For the Scarsdale Model UN team, their success at this conference was quite fulfilling, especially after two long years of not being able to attend any overnight conferences. “I definitely want to give credit to the officers who really prepared us and taught us a lot during the meetings… I think having the advice of older, more senior members was crucial in that success,” said Bender when asked about the factors he thought contributed to their various accomplishments.

The SHS Model UN team depends heavily on its seven officers, who meet twice a week to plan every meeting and the details of every in-school or overnight conference. When preparing for this particular conference, the officers pondered over the smallest of details: they discussed everything ranging from the member pairings for hotel rooms and partners who they thought would work well together for a given committee. “The officers just had to keep an eye out for the club members, make sure everyone was feeling included, make sure everyone was feeling good,” stated Vibbert when discussing her role at the actual conference. To Vibbert specifically, who had only ever attended one other overnight conference as a freshman, the conference posed new challenges that she had not experienced as a new member in 2020. “It was a learning experience for me to have a younger person and have to show her what to do… I had to be that role model figure for her, so that was definitely a challenge,” disclosed Vibbert when discussing her experience of aiding her freshman partner through the various committee sessions. 

To non-members who may not have as much knowledge or experience with Model UN, the club may not seem very different from the Speech and Debate Club. “Model UN is a community. In Model UN, you have to work with others… you have to collaborate and open your mind to other’s ideas,” emphasized Vibbert when asked what made the Model UN club so special in her life. While the club may seem to require a lot of time and commitment, the Model UN team seems to only gain more supportive members as time goes on. “People are really passionate about this club. Like people love this club. It’s crazy how much love this random debate club calls, but it’s really cool to see,” added Vibbert. As a new member, Bender expressed similar opinions when discussing the Model UN team. “I think this weekend really attested to the community and bonds we have in the club… That’s what’s really nice about Model UN: no one really feels like they’re competing against each other,” said Bender. 

When asked about the impact Model UN has had on their lives, both Vibbert and Bender discussed similar benefits, such as improving their public speaking skills, learning how to work well with others, and becoming more comfortable when presenting information to an audience. “This weekend probably gave motivation to all of us, because we saw the results we got for sustaining this club over COVID just to keep working harder, keep going to conferences, and keep trying to recruit new numbers,” reflected Bender. Even though some SHS students may be hesitant to join the Model UN club due to the commitment and time being a member may require, Vibbert and Bender both strongly encourage anyone to join. “Just coming to a meeting does not require any commitment, and it requires no work… I don’t think you should limit yourself without at least trying it and experiencing it first,” commented Vibbert.

Picking up from their success at this recent NHSMUN Conference, the Scarsdale Model UN team hopes for more SHS students to join their close-knit community!