On Dec. 8-11, Libertyville’s Model United Nations went to Chicago to compete in the Chicago International Model United Nations conference (otherwise known to participants as CIMUN).
At CIMUN, Libertyville did well. The country they represented as a team was Portugal. Competing individually, Jessica Yin, a junior, got an honorable mention as Ambassador to India in the China Cabinet. Osman Jamil, also a junior, received an honorable mention as Secretary of State in the historical United States Cabinet. Jojo Amdur, a junior, also received an honorable mention as Belgium in the North Atlantic Council.
Model UN students participating in CIMUN were proud of what they achieved as a team and as individuals in Chicago.
“Considering that CIMUN has thousands of delegates in it, that's pretty good,” said Jessica Yin, a leader in Model UN.
Model UN is a club where students are assigned countries and topics to research and then they try to help solve these problems (much like the real United Nations).
“Model UN makes you learn how to compromise and work with others to reach a solution. It teaches you about all the nuances of working with a large crowd or a group on deciding something,” said Jessica Yin.
Mr. Matt Thompson, a sponsor of Model UN and a social studies teacher, says, “Each of our students represent different countries in different committees.” Committees in the United Nations are subcategories of the General Assembly, for example, the Security Council (which protects countries from attack from other countries).
Then, team members research the individual and team scenarios given to them each month by the International Model United Nations. For the team scenarios, they get together and share their research. After this, the Model UN squad goes to a conference where they try to resolve the topic researched with other schools.
The Model UN season is still in full swing. There are more big conferences to go like DUMUN (Duke University Model United Nations) on Feb. 16-19 and NUMUN (Northwestern University Model United Nations) on April 20-23.