Students Take On Global Issues at Model UN Conference

 

The student-run conference asks each student participant to represent a country on a committee addressing a specific real-world problem, says junior Sarah Toms ’18. In meetings conducted according to the rules of parliamentary procedure, the student delegates debate and discuss their assigned topics, develop resolutions with proposed solutions, and then vote on the resolutions.

 

“Students have to stay in character as delegates from the countries they are assigned, so sometimes you end up debating against your own personal opinion,” says Toms, who serves, with classmate Bela Patel ’18, as co-head of Springs’ Model UN Club. “It’s a unique situation—one which you don't often find yourself in.”

Students from 19 schools across the Southeast participated this year. Four Springs students—Liz Jones ’18, Danna Refai ’18, Moni Uzunova ‘19, and Isaac Zhou ’19—received verbal commendations for the presentations they made within their committees.

“The conference was a challenging event, as it addressed major world problems such as terrorism and arms trafficking,” says Uzunova, a Bulgarian native who is studying at Indian Springs this year as part of the school’s partnership with ASSIST (American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers). She and her partner, Zhou, teamed up to represent Uruguay. “It gave me an idea how sophisticated the process of imposing policies on countries with different economies and internal conflicts is.”

Model UN faculty advisor Brian Rodgers commended Springs students for their research, writing, and diplomacy. “I am so proud of the amazing preparation and hard work that these students put into getting ready for this conference,” he says. “Each year we learn more from participating in this well-run conference and are better prepared to attend the next one.”