On Saturday, October 21st, Jesuit Model UN made its debut at its first competition at the Dallas Area Model United Nations Conference (DAMUN), competing with 300+ students from 36 other schools in the Dallas area. All hoping to resolve a massive array of international issues, they competed to be the best diplomat possible in their respective committees. But first, there is a critical question that needs to be answered, that being: What even is Model UN?
Model UN: A Quick Overview
Model United Nations (Model UN) is a club that involves the simulation of real experiences from an actual United Nations meeting. To embody this, Students are tasked to take on the roles of delegates from their assigned nations to address global issues, debating with others to find quick resolutions to the many problems of our modern world. These students must take on the viewpoint of their respective nation and only that respective nation, researching a topic they must address to the other delegates to come up with a solution that is representative of their nation’s ideas and beliefs. This allows for students to step into the shoes of real-world diplomats, learn about global issues that affect our world today, and practice diplomacy and negotiating skills with others in a controlled environment. Overall, its a fun and engaging way to better understand the world we live in and how to address the complex issues that affect it.
Jesuit Model UN Contestants
With most of the other members having conflicts on the day of, Jesuit Model UN sent two of their finest and most dedicated members to represent our school, Wills Blosser ’26 (Left) and Adam Peckham ’26 (Right). For this competition, Wills Blosser was assigned to be the African nation of Somalia, participating in the General Assembly (GA). Adam Peckham was assigned the nation of Belgium to the World Health Organization (WHO) committee. These students spent weeks researching their assigned topics and writing research papers. Being the first competition of the year, however, these students committed themselves to treating this competition as a training match, hoping to learn important lessons that can be used to improve their approach to these competitions, as well as being able to teach new members of the club lessons that would benefit them in future competitions.
The Competition Overview with Wills Blosser
The following is an interview with contestant Wills Blosser, highlighting what happened throughout the day of the competition. Questions were asked by members of Jesuit Model UN.
Interviewer: “Hello, Wills, I would first like to discuss with you what occurred as you arrived to the competition, what were your first impressions? Were you nervous?”
“Hello, nice to speak with you. Yes, when I arrived to the competition at 8:00 AM at Uplift North Hills Preparatory School, I walked over to the registration area, I quickly noticed the large amounts of people gathered around, realizing that these were actually my fellow contestants. Upon this realization, I was quite amazed by this, for I had never seen so many people at a Model UN Conference before, and was a little intimidated by the great many faces around me”
“Wow, very interesting. I am sure that you were not used to the amount of people, having only practiced with members from your club.
What did you do next, did you start immediately? and If so, how long did you compete for?”
“Well, the conference actually went from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, a long time commitment on a Saturday for many, but we did not just debate. At 8:00 AM, after registration, we had a presentation on the humanitarian crisis on the situation in Syria, presented by a faculty member who had first-hand experience in Syria, and talked about many catastrophes that took place there. Since many people who do Model UN are interested in going into International Affairs for their career, it was very interesting and insightful to listen and see the presenter’s first-hand experience. It also was very emotional experience, learning all the horrific things occurring even today in our divided world. However, it further solidifies the importance of the conference as we learn to solve these problems and build a better future for all around the world.”
“That must have been a great presentation, and it really taps into the importance of Model UN itself, building better and brighter leaders who can fix the many issues that people all around the world face.
Now, what happened following the presentation?
“Well, after the presentation, we were grouped into our committees. I was in the General Assembly representing Somalia our topics to be debated being Environmental Refugees and Women’s Access to Higher Education. We began to walk over to the cafeteria, where the assembly would be held. There were over 40 people who filled up the entirely of the relatively small cafeteria. As we sat down, we were given our placards that also had some useful tips on the many procedures one must follow in Model UN. After that, we began to discuss topic 1, or Environmental Refugees, beginning with our opening statements, each member having 1 minute to give their opinion on the matter. While I was waiting for my turn to speak, I heard some very impressive displays of knowledge and professionalism, taking in potential ideas and noting things I liked/disliked. And, when it was my turn, I gave my semi-pre-written speech for around 52 seconds. And astonishingly, the whole process, getting through all 40 delegates, took around an hour.”
“Wow, that must have been a long hour, but I’m sure it was very interesting to hear the other delegates’ ideas and opinions, and whether or not they relate to yours.
What does it mean to be apart of a committee?”
“Well, there are many committees that a student gets randomly assigned to. Each of the committees to sort of narrow down a specific topic or idea that needs to be addressed. For example, my colleague Adam Peckham was assigned to the World Health Organization, which, you know, focuses on health-related topics all around the world, like for example, like the spread of diseases like Covid 19. I was in the General Assembly which more or less focuses on general policy-making and large-scale international issues.”
 “Very interesting, so basically you were in the main committee, if you will, of the conference, which probably explains why there were 40+ people. Now, if the opening statements took an hour, what happened next?”
“Yes, true, but, what happened next was what we call a moderated caucus where we had a specific time frame to discuss in more depth a nations position on the current issue, also beginning to form agreements and disagreements with other nations. I had the opportunity to also give my opinion, receiving positive remarks from other Sub-Saharan African Nations who sought the same resolve on the issue of Environmental Refuges. Another cool feature of the conference is that you are allowed to pass private notes to other delegates, which I used frequently to sway others to joining our now-forming “African Voting Block”, all agreeing on fighting for immediate action and increased aid to combat the overwhelming surge of Environmental Refugees.”
“Im impressed that you were able to sway other nations to your cause, forming an entire voting block”
“Thank you, yes, I can attest my success to the club for helping their support in improving delegating abilities, but at this point we all had voted for what is called an “unmoderated caucus” where we were free to move around the space straight up conversing with other delegates about their standings on the situation. And well, the African Voting Block and I grew in numbers conveying other European nations to help achieve our goals. However, of course, there were some people who sought other solutions that some nations didn’t necessarily agree with. Like, for example, China and the United States were constantly debating on their issues, trying to sway members to agree with their points of view, and well, they constantly attempted to throw money at nations who were in need of economic aid, hoping they would support their cause.”
“Well, it sounds like passing a resolution is no joke and I am definitely sure it is never too easy to pass a resolution that actually favors you and your voting block due to never-ending compromises.
Did anything happen to disrupt your plans? Any tensions begin to arise with others?”
“Very true and well, now that you mention it, right when our voting block were drafting a resolution, all of a sudden a member of the moderating team ran inside our meeting area and stated out of nowhere that the diplomat of Greece was kidnapped by Turkish nationalists, causing huge problems that weren’t even related to the topic, like the fact that India got involved in the now occurring hostage situation, focusing entirely on conversations about releasing the hostages.”
“Well that escalated quickly.”
“Yes, but then we had a lunch break before anything got too crazy. They had pizza which was actually pretty good. In the like hour break time, Adam Peckham and I met with Mrs. Hudec, our moderator, who gave us some helpful advice as we now prepared for the second half of the day.”
 “Can’t believe that was just the first half, you must have been glad you had a lunch break, but I am now more curious than ever,
What happened when you resumed the sessions?
“So once I returned, Turkey and India teamed together with China for some reason, threatening nuclear warfare against everyone who agreed with Italy and Greece regarding the kidnapping issue. Nations like Norway, myself, and the rest of the African voting block originally agreed with Italy, however fearing for the future of our nations, we decided to take a neutral stance on the matter, and that like took another hour, bleeding into our time to pursue the second topic, which, in fact, we did not even have time to move on to the second topic because things got even worse.”
“That is incredible, what a turn of events! In my opinion, staying neutral was probably a wise decision, but I am very interested in what happened next.
Moving on, does taking too much time on the first topic usually happen? And, do these debates usually descend into this level of chaos?
“Yes, and I am glad I stayed neutral. To answer your question regarding focusing on one topic extensively, the answer is yes, that usually happens, and the moderators kind of expect it to happen, and it did not hinder the awards process. Continuing forward with the debate, we were in the final hour, literally, as it was quite the scene, seeing delegates arguing as the whole room kind of fell into disorder and confusion. And then it happened, a resolution out of nowhere was presented to begin nuclear strikes on Italy and its allies. And unfortunately, the assailants got their way and the world fell into nuclear war. And that was the climatic end of the entire debate.”
“Wow, just wow. It is almost tragic in a way, but also pretty humorous seeing how this debate was originally intended to come up with a resolution for environmental refugees.
So was that it or would you know what awards you earned immediately after?
“We had to, yes, go to an awards ceremony immediately after the debates, all of the committees reuniting together in a big gym. And there, the student moderators from each committee gave their remarks about the conference saying the many ridiculous things that occurred as time progressed. But, then they gave the awards. There is a wide range of rewards from those focused on the quality of your research paper to being the best overall delegate. Unfortunately for Jesuit, we did not win any awards, sadly, but we learned a great many lessons that will help us achieve in upcoming competitions down the road.”
Conclusion
Overall, the debate was a great way for Jesuit Model UN’s members to get reacquainted with the competition process, learning a great many things along the way that will hopefully be manifested in potentially winning awards in the foreseeable future. Well, on behalf of Jesuit Model UN, we thank you for reading!
And as always, Go Rangers!
Works Cited: DAMUN Homepage – https://damun.webflow.io/details
