Club Spotlight: Model United Nations

By LEVI STOLL, ERIN HAN, JINMIN LEE, ALEX LIM, and JADE YOO

Over three hundred delegates from many schools in New England rush onto Exeter’s campus for PEAMUN each year. A strong community, Exeter’s Model United Nations runs many committees dedicated to simulating real-world problems. Additionally, students learn valuable academic and life skills while competing at the highest level.

Model United Nations (MUN) is a simulation of the United Nations, where students roleplay different countries and collaborate to address global issues using the perspectives and policies of their respective countries. MUN provides a unique opportunity for students to exercise essential skills such as public speaking, negotiation, research, writing, and more. For example, PEAMUN has General Assemblies debate topics such as the criminal justice system, and smaller crisis committees debate topics including Anna Delvey’s scandal. In MUN, students give prepared and impromptu speeches. This is just a small peek into MUN and joining will fully expose you to its excitement.

MUN is open to a wide variety of experience levels, from hardened debaters to intrigued preps, and aims to engage all of its members. Students reflected on how they began their MUN roles. “I joined MUN at my old school,” recalled upper Tanay Nandan, who currently serves as Secretary General. “It was similar to debate, and I liked together to find solutions.”

Senior Abigail Sears recalled, “I participated in MUN during middle school, but the two conferences I attended were virtual due to the pandemic. So, when I came to Exeter, the opportunity to attend in-person conferences was really appealing.”

Not all members had participated in MUN before. Many were drawn to its inviting exhibit at Club Fair in early fall term. “I joined Prep Fall because I thought it was interesting,” shared lower Artur Ferreira. “I went to Club Fair and decided to try Model UN out. I thought that my first conference, PEAMUN, was a very fun and enjoyable experience, so I kept doing it.”

Others saw it as part of training for a future occupation. “I didn’t have any previous Model UN experience, but it was certainly a thing that I was thinking of while I was applying to Exeter. I want to be a diplomat when I’m older as a career, so I think this was definitely a good way to practice that and hone in on those skills,” reflected lower Victor Angeline.

Students shared what they liked most about MUN. “I like the fact that I can really meet a lot of new people while also practicing my public speaking skills and learning how to respect other people’s opinions,” described upper Avery Im. 

Prep Emre Oklu added, “I like how Model UN is very democratic; everyone has a say and we just work together overall to create resolutions or solutions. But the club itself, I really like that they provide a solid amount of information to pick up Model UN and become a great speaker.”

Many noted the strong and supportive community as the strongest reason why they liked MUN. “My favorite thing about mun is the people.” said lower David Liu. “Most of my friends do it and I have also had a chance to meet other people in other grades and people I never knew before.” 

Sears added, “MUN at Exeter, and beyond, is a fantastic community. While it often gets labeled as purely academic, it’s much more than that—it’s also fun. One of my favorite memories is from last year’s PEAMUN, after we passed a resolution. The dais—myself, the vice chair, and the staff—started FUNMUN, a time when delegates can celebrate their achievement of passing a resolution. I found myself and my staff performing karaoke to California Girls in the middle of the forum, surrounded by other high schoolers in suits.”

“MUN has been great this year,” said new club advisor Corrine Plunto. “I really like working with Dr. Madhi, the other club advisor, and the students have been awesome. They are self-sufficient, and they know the answer to all of my questions. Everyone is very enthusiastic about research and world affairs, which is what I’m interested in.” 

“I love how competitive we are, but also very respectful and caring for one another outside of the rounds. We often give healthy compliments and support each other,” explained lower Crane Lee. 

Additionally, many members have found that the skills they are honing in MUN are valuable ones that will support them across various fields. “You’re not going to succeed in MUN unless you can effectively collaborate with other delegates, so it really teaches you how to help compromise conflicting interests, how to ease tensions, and how to get your points across while also appreciating other people’s ideas,” explained Director General Laura Saldarriaga. 

She added, “It really helps with diplomacy, and you learn how to interact in group settings, professionally. Since you don’t really have that much time to prepare for each speech, it teaches you how to be confident and how to speak in public, how to use body language and how to feel more comfortable when you’re speaking with a large group of people.”

Nandan echoed Saldarriaga, emphasizing the wide breadth of skills that MUN cultivates. “I mean you develop many skills, but if I had to condense it, you’re developing public speaking and research skills, as well as just general people skills. In committee you need to learn to work together to form blocs.” 

He added, “You also have to memorize parliamentary procedure which is when you start speaking all fancy—that’s part of it too.”

Even as one of the newest members of the club, prep Emre Oklu agreed. “With any of these kinds of clubs where you’re using your speaking skills you’re speaking on the spot, and it teaches you a lot about how to convince people, both just as a person through speech, but even in your writing because you pick up certain skills that you can’t really teach on a PowerPoint.”

Lower Drona Goddam added, “Impromptu speaking is an important part of MUN and, especially in Exeter, is very applicable. A huge part of Harkness is on the spot thinking and speaking, and MUN complements this well.”

Sears, a second-time general assembly committee chair at PEAMUN this year, once again underscored the make-or-break role that teamwork plays in the success of MUN. “One skill I’ve developed is learning how to collaborate on a Google Doc with 50-plus other people editing at the same time,” she said. “It’s challenging to create solutions that respect every delegate’s stance, and when you’ve written 500-plus words only for someone to delete it because they disagree, it’s frustrating. But ultimately, you learn the importance of compromise and working together to create something everyone can support.”

Another important skill that MUNers noted was the ability to persuade, formulate initiatives, and collaborate, all the while having fun at conferences and keeping the material engaging. 

“I think a big part of MUN that’s even more important than how well you actually understand how Model UN and parliamentary procedure works, is your ability to talk with others, communicate confidently, and also be humorous about it at the same time,” said upper Ethan Benenson. “One of the things that works best is creating good acronyms for your plans—and you wanna have fun acronyms, not just regular ones like ‘STAR’ and like ‘PLAN.’ At a tournament last year, my acronym was ‘ELMO’ and I called the coalition that I built the ‘Sesame Street Bloc,’ which ended up being really successful.”

He summarized, “It’s really about being able to have fun with people while communicating confidently.”

Members reported their various favorite memories from the club. “My favorite memory is in a crisis committee of about twelve people where we were a bunch of members of Queen Elizabeth’s court,” said Nandan. 

Benenson shared, “My favorite moment is my prep year at Dartmouth. It was a really fun time in  the hotel hanging out with my friends.” 

Im also recalled, “My favorite memory was getting Boba together after the conference with my friends.” 

Sears’ favorite memory was during FUNMUN, which is a blocked out time for fun bonding activities and games at the end of committee after the resolutions are passed. “The dais—myself, the vice chair, and the staff—started FUNMUN, a time when delegates can celebrate their achievement of passing a resolution. I found myself and my staff performing karaoke to California Girls in the middle of the forum, surrounded by other high schoolers in suits.”

Angeline added, “My favorite part of MUN is delivering speeches. When an opposing bloc is presenting their resolution, I really like to go up there and tell everybody what’s wrong with it. I think that’s really fun.” 

PEAMUN is Exeter’s annual Model UN Conference. This year, it is happening on November 3rd. PEAMUN is for delegates of all skill levels, both novice and experienced delegates alike. PEAMUN last year marked a landmark post-pandemic return, attracting over 300 delegates. PEAMUN offers a wide diversity of topics throughout their three types of committees, each decreasing in size from left to right: General-Assembly, Specialized, and Crisis committees. 

There are a lot of exciting, unique, and interesting topics covered in each committee, from Clean Water Access to Black Panther to the Dune Universe. PEAMUN, according to their website, “promises a fun, engaging, and educational Model UN experience that is sure to provide delegates with the skills to become a confident public speaker, debater, and a global leader alike”, which many members can confirm and agree with. 

Model UN is often compared to other competitive speech-based clubs, such as debate and Mock Trial. However, many of the MUN members beg to differ, and encourage people to join the club, as there are many reasons why it’s unique. 

“Model UN is unique because it applies to real world scenarios and current conflicts,” Angeline noted. “In MUN, you get to practice your speaking skills, your self confidence skills, problem solving skills, and communication skills while also learning about the current events of the world.” 

“There is no other club on campus that allows you to do improv in the same way that Model UN does,” remarked Benenson. “If you like being creative in a way that other speaking clubs don’t allow you to, I think MUN is the club for you. I think the creativity you use in MUN while building arguments, presenting, and making connections really sets us apart. If you want to have fun with other people and get real social skills that you can use in real life, I think MUN is the club for you.”

In addition to the structure of the club, multiple MUN members also emphasized the unique community within the club, “MUN is an incredible community, both here at Exeter and beyond,” Sears said. “It helps you build essential skills like debating, public speaking, and writing, while also offering opportunities to travel and meet new people.” 

Lower Christina Hu added, “People should join MUN because it’s a fun way to socialize with and meet new people!”