Exeter Model UN Club Plans, Hosts Conference

Over four hundred delegates from twenty-eight schools convened last Sunday to participate in Phillips Exeter Academy’s seventh annual Model United Nations Conference, PEAMUN. The event, hosted by Exeter’s own Model UN club, was the culmination of organization efforts that have been ongoing since last May.The conference consisted of seven individual committees. Senior and co-president Will Rau said that there were three General Assemblies (GA’s) that concentrated on human rights and humanitarian issues. The three GA’s focused on unmanned aerical vehicles (UAVs), food security and immigration to Europe. In addition, two historical committees handled issues of Communist influence in Russia and the Cuban Missile Crisis. To cap the conference off, a modern security council dealt with problems surrounding terrorism in the Middle East, specifically Kurdistan.Rau said that the tournament was an overall success and that he was pleased with the efforts of Exeter’s Model UN club. “The delegates from PEA generally participated well, as some received honorable recognitions from the moderators of their committees,” Rau said.

“A personal highlight for me was just seeing the whole process finally consolidate.”

Rau explained the process of organizing such a large conference: “Sam Millner and I worked closely with Gillian Chu, our director of finance, to start getting schools to register for the conference,” Rau said. “By the time that the conference rolled around, we had 350 students and over twenty schools registered.”This event not only required a great deal of logistical work, but also quite a bit of effort from each of the eleven board members. “There was a lot to do to organize this conference, including writing the background guides and doing research for each committee, contacting the schools and figuring out the logistics,” upper and Model UN Associate Kaitlyn Kang said. “The board started preparing for this conference since turnover last spring, and we all had to do research over the summer.”Upper, Model UN Associate and GA III Chair Bokyoung Kim said that the preparation for the event was “absolutely incredible and extensive. We had to sort out everything from finances to background guides and details for the day of the conference,” Kim said. “It was crazy thinking that a mistake in the organization and planning for the conference could actually have an impact on real people. I think it really puts the amount of responsibility you have as a board member into perspective.”This conference serves as the hallmark event of Exeter’s Model UN program, as well as provides the club with the majority of its income. “This conference is undoubtedly our most important of the year—it is our primary source of revenue, and our first opportunity for new students to experience Model UN for the first time,” Rau said.Model UN Director of Internal Affairs and GA II Chair Amelia Stucke agreed with Rau, saying that the conference was an integral part of the fall event lineup. “Because PEAMUN is the first conference of the year, we want to give new delegates a good first impression too,” she said.The conference saw interesting events unfold in several committees. Kang called the conference “surprisingly successful,” and said that this year saw the biggest turnout in the event’s history. “In the committees, people got assassinated, South America got renamed ‘New Cuba’ and one even ended in a nuclear world war,” Kang said. “All the delegates I spoke to had very positive feedback and said they really enjoyed the conference.”Kim said that she was happy to see the board’s efforts come to a head in this tournament. “A personal highlight for me was just seeing the whole process finally consolidate,” Kim said. “We had been preparing for PEAMUN since last year and seeing how excited all the delegates were before and during the conference really gave me a sense of fulfillment.” Kim said that she had been in contact with several of the younger delegates in the weeks preceding the tournament, and appreciated their enthusiasm about the event. “Seeing their excitement got me excited for the conference as well,” Kim said.While the conference was well received by most who attended, some felt that at times the event moved too slowly and did not balance discussion well. “The morning was interesting, but the afternoon got kind of boring,” upper Chris Agard said. “We had to introduce and talk about our resolutions at that time, and I was in a really big committee. That took like an hour and a half to do, and then I had to leave by the end of it.”Agard enjoyed the experience overall, but said that it could have been improved with more inclusive participation. “I didn’t like how big my committee was. There were almost a hundred people in the GA that I was in, and I didn’t ever get called on. It was sort of unbalanced.”However, those who did have the chance to speak performed well, and two of Exeter’s own delegates, Lyle Seeligson ’17 and Michael Bamah ’18, received awards for their remarks.The group hopes to echo this year’s results during next year’s conference, though planning will not resume until the spring. On the subject, Kim said that she is optimistic for next fall. “I think that after we get back into the Model UN swing of things, we will be back to planning out all the minute details of the conference and all that good stuff to ensure that we get an equally large, if not larger, delegation for next year’s conference.”