Exeter Model United Nations Competes at HMUN Harvard

Lucy Jung/ The Exonian

By ANGELA HE, LYDIA KUHNERT, ARJUN VELAN, and JADE YOO

Last weekend, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, Exeter students stepped into the shoes of diplomats at Harvard MUN, one of the largest and most competitive high school Model UN conferences in the world. It has not been an easy road to Harvard: weeks of preparation, research sessions, and practice debates have all shaped the weeks leading up to the conference. With position papers finalized and speeches fine-tuned, Exeter’s delegates prepared themselves for the difficult task of distinguishing themselves in a room full of incredibly ambitious students.

The process began last December with an intense selection period. Co-head senior Laura Saldarriaga described how each delegate was chosen to attend, “We had a lengthy application. It included answering a bunch of questions and writing some operative clauses, which are part of the resolution delegates will be working on in committee. The board then met to look over the applications, and we picked the best delegates.” 

With just 15 places on the team available, the board had to carefully handpick only the most experienced delegates. “They are the crème de la crème,” Saldarriaga said. “Most have been doing Model UN for three, four, five years, some even longer. Some of them have been doing it since middle school.”

Once the team was finalized, the real work began. According to Saldarriaga, “We’ve been preparing all year, really. We’ve just been training them on new topics and brushing up on the old.” She emphasized that MUN is not particularly about memorization; so much of it is quick thinking and adapting in real time. “To an extent, you can only prepare so much for MUN because so much of it is reacting to the situation on hand,” she explained. “The best thing you can prepare is your ability. You can’t fully ever prepare for a MUN conference. You kind of just have to believe in yourself and trust that you will know how to react when the time comes.”

Senior and co-head Lucy Jung agreed, explaining the training process, “Training sessions have spanned over a variety of model UN conference-related topics, some of which include preparing for impromptu speaking during moderating caucuses, writing position papers, rhetoric, speech, and using body language to its maximum capacity.” 

Delegates took different approaches to their preparation. Some, like lower Drona Gaddam, relied heavily on the background guide as a starting point. “Hamdan, my double delegate, and I read through our background guide and used that as a pretty good base or starting point for any of our research,” said Gaddam. Others dug deep into the primary sources. Lower Dash Seals said, “We read the background guide multiple times. We have done so much research, going deep into primary sources on our delegation, the country of Tunisia-newspapers, really trying to understand the culture and our country at a deep level to represent it best on the world stage.”

Regardless of their individual preparation styles, the team found value in their club meetings leading up to the conference. “The club meetings have provided good exercises and, more importantly, good tips and advice for the committee,” Gaddam noted. 

Saldarriaga also discussed how the conference has fostered an excellent sense of community between club members. “I think the delegates have all grown closer to each other, and we’ve laughed a lot. It’s also good that we have a great variety of seniors, uppers, and lowers because everybody can learn new things from everyone, and it makes the whole team so much more interesting.”

Overall, the tournament was a highly rewarding experience for all of Exeter’s delegates and served as a valuable learning opportunity. The club came away victorious, with six Exonians winning impressive awards, ranging from outstanding delegates to diplomatic commendations. Saldarriaga concluded by praising both the delegates and club advisors for their hard work. “[The delegates] have all been doing really wonderfully. A huge shout-out to our advisors, Ms. Plunto and Dr. Madhi, who’ve also been so helpful.” 

This coming spring, Model UN will travel to Dartmouth for what is surely going to be another exciting and fulfilling conference.