Students hosted the 18th annual Johns Hopkins University Model United Nations Conference (JHUMUNC) at the Hilton Baltimore Hotel from Feb. 5-8. Around 1,500 high school delegates and 200 advisors from nearly 100 high schools from across the U.S. gathered at the hotel to hold seven committee sessions.
According to senior Will Dorman, one of the two Secretaries-General, the students came from as far as New Mexico.
There were three main groups of committees: the General Assembly Committees, the Economic and Social Council Committees (ECOSOC) and the specialized committees. The General Assembly committees and the ECOSOC committees were generally larger than the specialized committees and included more people who represented different nations. The General Assembly committees included the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme of 2050 and the World Health Organization (WHO) of 2075.
Senior Jess Fong chaired the WHO 2075 Committee and served as the director of the General Assembly committees. This year’s topic in the WHO 2075 was xenotransplantation, a procedure in which animal organs are transplanted into humans.
Fong said she was pleased with the high school students who attended this year’s conference.
“I think it’s a relatively well run conference... I like the group that we have. They can get really rowdy sometimes, but I’m glad that a lot of them are participating as opposed to some other times you might see two or three people who are dominating, but it seems here that there’s a solid spread of people which is great to see,” Fong said. “And I like that they’re also taking their country policies relatively seriously, but they’re having fun with it which is also rare.”
The committee sessions usually last between three and four hours. During that time, students representing different countries voice their opinions on a specific matter and join in coalitions to create resolutions.
“In assuming the role of a diplomat for four days, delegates will have the opportunity to understand the complexities of international affairs. Frustratingly, they will often find that easy solutions can be elusive and will come to appreciate that only difficult compromises and extensive diplomacy will engender progress,” the JHUMUNC Conference Guide read.
Dorman said Hopkins students had been preparing for this year’s conference since the day they ended the conference last year.
“It takes a year to manufacture this whole conference between the leadership staff, all the staff, all the way down to the people who work at the bottom of the organization. It’s truly a group collective project,” Dorman said.
The high school students had generally positive opinions about JHUMUNC, although some admitted it could get to be a lot of work.
“So far [the sessions are] pretty good. It’s pretty cold up here. I’m from Texas. I don’t know how I feel about the people. The people up here are about as cold as the Baltimore winds,” a high school junior said.
High school senior Elisabeth Pearson from Oakdale High School was the delegate for China in the World Health Organization 2075 Committee. She joined many countries to create a resolution regarding xenotransplantation.
“It’s very fun. It’s intense because we have a lot of different countries represented and all the accounts have to [be] take[en] into account, and we’ve been working together and making progress,” Pearson said.
Dorman and the other members of the Secretariat and Directorate attended various committees to watch the students debate and assert their countries’ beliefs.
“From my personal opinion, I think the debate is really good. We have some really interesting committees... I think students really enjoy being able to take the role of somebody they may follow in the news and try to impersonate the individual,” Dorman said. “It’s been all very compelling and I’m very, very pleased, and advisors have told me that they’re pleased with the quality of the debate.”
Alec Stepanian, a freshman who worked as a dais staff member for the UNESCO committee, said it was enlightening to see all of the work that goes into putting on a Model UN conference.
“It was really interesting because it was the first time that I got to experience what it was like to be a college student running the debate,” Stepanian, who attended conferences at Harvard and Georgetown as a high school delegate, said. “It was an interesting role reversal for me.”
He also said that he enjoyed getting to know the delegates in his committee over the course of the weekend.
The Hopkins students who worked on different committees also had the chance to take their delegates out to lunch at restaurants near the hotel. Stepanian said he enjoyed getting to know his delegates over lunch at P.F. Chang’s in the Inner Harbor.
“I thought that was a really positive experience because the delegates that choose to attend Model UN are generally mature, interesting high school students and they’re obviously interested in hearing about college,” Stepanian said. “It was interesting to talk to them and hear about their interests.”
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