The St. Louis Model United Nations team went to the first conference of the year at the Gratiot-Isabella RESD Building Wednesday, Feb. 7, to compete against the other conference members.
The first conference was originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13, but was rescheduled due to weather conditions. This gave the members of the team more time to prepare for the conference, which was much appreciated. Senior Mckenzie Smith, who has competed as a member of the Model U.N. team since her sophomore year, shared, “I think at first, the delay was a relief.” Smith continued, “It definitely helped me to prepare, and now I feel more confident.”
This extra time to prepare was highly beneficial, so when the team got to the RESD building, the members knew their stuff. However, this extra time didn’t help to soothe the new members’ nerves. Senior and first-time Model U.N. competitor Claire Hubble stated, “I was so nervous going into the day, but I got over my nerves pretty quickly.”
Luckily, after being there for a whole day and seeing how Model U.N. is done, Hubble reconsidered her previous statement, and said, “After seeing Model U.N. for a day, I learned that it’s way different than I expected.” Hubble continued by saying, “It was a super cool experience, and I suggest it to anyone who has an interest in politics or even just debating.”
“I was nervous, mostly because it seems a lot more complicated than it truly is,” said junior and fellow first-time competitor Ryan Hudson. “After seeing and participating in Model U.N., I felt a lot more comfortable, even within the first hour!”
After the competition though, the team was confident in its ability to dominate the conference members. Senior and long-time Model U.N. member Curtis Brashaw said, “Being my last year of Model U.N., I really wanted to bring the heat, if you will.” Brashaw continued by saying “I wanted to call out countries.”
“As always, Model U.N. was fun to go to and solve real-world issues while having a good laugh from some of the antics,” concluded Brashaw. The team had a great time at the most recent competition, and will be in attendance at the next conference Tuesday, Mar. 19.
