Model United Nations club members represented leading countries for the first time in years during the annual Model United Nations conference at Stanford University last weekend.
The 22 Redwood students who participated in the three-day conference, which was held Nov. 9-11, were assigned to represent either the Republic of India or the Czech Republic.
Club members acted as delegates from either India or the Czech Republic in committees in an attempt to resolve specific world issues, ranging from decolonization to drug trafficking in the style of the actual United Nations conference.
According to President Adam Carroll, this year’s Stanford conference was successful, despite many students’ relative inexperience and limited preparation.
“I am really impressed with all of our delegates,” Carroll said. “A lot of them went in with minimal preparation and then came out and spoke.”
Several club members received awards at this year’s conference.
Carroll was awarded a verbal commendation for his participation in the committee re-enacting the De-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, junior Taylor Lee was named Outstanding Delegate for her role as India in the World Food Program committee, and freshman Zac Patel received a verbal commendation for his work in the United Nations Development Program.
Club advisor Lisa Kemp said that the students benefited from acting as delegates for India and the Czech Republic.
“They got a lot of talking time,” Kemp said. “I go into the committees and it just so happens that Redwood students are speaking. That tells me that the committee chairs were calling on them because they had been saying good things in the past.”
Junior Sarah Ogden said that the privilege of representing powerful countries raised the club’s spirits and gave the members more opportunities to participate.
“In bigger conferences you get a greater monopoly being the powerful countries,” Ogden said. “Here [at Stanford] it’s more important in how much you get involved. Representing India and the Czech Republic, it was easier for enthusiastic kids to get involved and have greater responsibility in their committees.”
Last year, club members acted as delegates for Egypt and South Africa, which are not as influential in Model UN as India and the Czech Republic. However, the club still performed well.
In last year’s conference, Carroll won the Best Delegate award, and juniors Taylor Lee and Lily Le both received honorable mentions.
According to Ogden, the club’s success in last year’s conference was one reason why it was able to represent more powerful countries.
“The schools with delegates that performed well in the previous conferences will get better countries the following year,” Ogden said.
Stanford was the first Model United Nations conference of the year and the very first conference for the majority of the underclassmen club members.
For first-time club members like freshman Kylie Beck, the Stanford conference encouraged her to strengthen her public speaking skills and improve her global awareness.
“I am now stronger at on-demand public speaking,” Beck said. “Someone would bring up a point and I would have no research on it, so I had to say, ‘Well based on this, what can I reason from that?’”
