NHSMUN closing ceremonies held at the United Nations in New York City | Photo courtesy of Rorie Adamson

What is Model UN? Many students have heard of the CHS Model UN club, but have no idea what the club actually does. Model United Nations is a club that focuses on understanding global issues and connections, attending conferences to represent countries working to solve international conflicts, and developing solutions to ongoing problems. Sponsored by Mr. Robinson, the club meets in C211 on Monday afternoons. 

Essentially, Model UN aims to create solutions to conflicts and issues across the globe. Students interested in geography, history, and international relations join MUN to learn more about the processes of the United Nations and discover pertinent international issues. In a typical Model UN meeting, club members plan and prepare for conferences, but also play trivia and geography games. As conferences approach, they write “position papers,” which outline their assigned country’s stance on a problem, what they have already done and are currently doing to solve it, and their ideas for ways to work on it in the future.

The club generally attends three conferences per year, allowing members to hone their skills as the year progresses. Model UN conferences are events in which many schools represent different countries to demonstrate and explore the processes of the actual United Nations. Participants discuss and work to solve a variety of issues from across the globe. Participants, known as delegates, are assigned to various committees and then assigned topics to research and develop resolutions for. Conferences come in all shapes and sizes, and the club’s first of the year is close to home, held at William & Mary. This entry-level conference introduces newer members to the basics and procedures of committee sessions while providing a unique travel experience outside of Charlottesville. Last year, the club traveled to William & Mary in the fall, ILMUNC (Ivy League Model United Nations Conference) in Philadelphia in the winter, and NHSMUN (National High School Model United Nations) in New York City in the spring. Members can choose which conferences they would like to attend, and scholarships are available to open the opportunity to participate to all who wish to go. 

Mr. Robinson, who teaches AP Government, ESL Government, and Criminal Law, sponsors the club. When describing Model UN, he said that “even though there’s an element of competition, a lot of it is about cooperation.” Mr. Robinson has a reputation on campus for his love of travel, and he says that he is passionate about “traveling to new places with students and seeing them navigate those places, [and seeing them] meet people from other schools they stay in touch with months and years later… explor[ing] ideas in a new setting can be intimidating at first.” While conferences can seem daunting to those unfamiliar with committee procedures, Robinson describes Model UN as “joyful.”

This year’s co-presidents are seniors Kat Story and Lily Bolling. When interviewing Kat, who intends to continue with Model UN in college, she explained that her main goal for the club this year is “for us to better learn how to be active participants in conferences.” She went on to say that her favorite part of Model UN is “getting to work to solve relevant issues to our time.”

Junior Tucker Wilcox, who joined Model UN last year, has attended two conferences. While describing the conference experience, he described it as “slightly stressful,” but also “fun because you get to meet people… It’s pretty informal… you make a lot of friends and most people are joking. Sometimes it can get a little heated, but for the most part it’s a great time.” He shared one of his favorite conference memories, saying, “We were the judges in this argument between two people trying to get sponsors on a document. We started mediating an argument; that’s my favorite memory.” He began talking about the other delegates at conferences, saying that “people from other countries are just interesting to talk to.” Model UN conferences often see participants from different countries, furthering the collaborative and diverse experience of these events.

This year, one of the club’s main goals is to emphasize the availability of scholarships. Model UN is a club that is open to everyone, and members want their peers to realize that conferences are always accessible through club fundraising. Mr. Robinson enthusiastically shared, “One thing I’d love to do is to keep expanding our club and the people in it. I want to keep spreading the word that we have scholarships for our conferences, so anyone can travel to our first conference with us… We also raise money together, so that’s a really good thing to know. I want to expand who’s in our club, I want to expand the way we join together and become part of the life of the school.” Anyone interested in joining Model UN can attend meetings on Mondays in C211, Mr. Robinson’s classroom.