MUN: What a Time To Be Alive
By Isabelle Polgar ‘21
The United Nations: in the real world, it is a careful place, working in national sovereignty and economic stability to make incremental changes to our world. So far this year, our Model United Nations Club had to deal with bringing our nation out of the Great Depression and using smart industrial solutions similar to the “New Deal.”
Improving upon the actual United Nations, however, it had creative twists, like one delegate pushing for the legalization of all drugs for economic stimulation and an invasion of Germany ten years before World War II. However, this past winter, a new simulation occurred: a crisis! The Hong Kong protests are entangled with complex issues surrounding many groups around the world and at Sem. As one head delegate, Jess Kishbaugh stated, “We picked the Hong Kong protests for our winter simulation because it was really relevant at the time, and it combined a lot of people’s interests. We incorporated not just internationalism with members of the Hong Kong, U.S., and the Chinese government, but we also used basketball players to add another layer to it.” Delegates enjoyed the simulation, which had constant crisis updates like the double kidnapping of Carrie Lim (represented by Alvin Tuo) and the brutal murder of both protest leaders (represented by Isabelle Polgar and Max Liu). The U.S. government also had a significant role, with Donald Trump (represented by Max Krous and Amin Ali) giving the Hong Kong protesters a billion dollars in exchange for renaming Hong Kong “Trump Town.”
Delegates learned and had a lot of fun. A portion of them was chosen to attend the highly acclaimed “Ivy League United Nations Conference” held annually by the University of Pennsylvania. Delegates came from six different continents and from committees such as Facebook, Brexit, and the Congress of Vienna. While there wasn’t as much murder at UPenn as in Sem’s practice simulation, delegates still had a lot of fun and learned a lot about present and historical foreign affairs. One delegate, Matt Kuloszewski ‘21, stated, “Our committee was tasked with solving the Israel Palestine conflict. Our chairs warned us that it was a very sensitive issue and that the Actual U.N. hasn’t been able to solve it in decades. Even though we put great effort into our working papers, every single resolution proposed failed. It taught me, though, that the issues of our world are often complex and multifaceted, requiring long-lasting cooperation among all parties involved.” Attendees also got delicious meals at the Reading Terminal Market and lots of boba tea. In fact, Nikka Gohrieshi set a Sem record for Boba consumption at a Model U.N. conference. Every delegate learned something new about the world and themselves while having a fun weekend meeting people from around the world.