Oratory’s first-ever Model UN club recently concluded its inaugural conference at Bergen County Academies in Hackensack. Club members represented three different countries, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Sweden; two others were assigned to the Press Corps and an ad hoc committee.

The road to the conference began in early January when we learned of what committee assignments that were available and divided them up accordingly. Next came the writing of position papers, which detail a country’s plan for action and their position on certain matters.

On Thursday, January 26, the first day of the conference arrived. With the first topic discussed, the rooms were buzzing with excitement and planning on how to (albeit idealistically) fix the world’s problems, from topics as varied as investment in Africa in the African Union room to how to feed malnourished persons in my room, the United Nations Development Program. The second day continued in that vein of constructive discussion and ended with an awards ceremony, where Greg Parys was awarded Outstanding Delegate in the Press Corps and Tate Mikula received a verbal commendation.

After the conference, delegates had generally positive reactions. Freshman Daniel Cavalheiro-Santos said, “I thought the Model UN Conference was a new experience, and I was not expecting it to be so well organized. I am definitely willing to go to another conference.” Sophomore Greg Lion stated that “Model UN was a great experience that needed collaboration…and taught many lessons.” Overall, the team had a great experience and looks forwards to its next conference at St. Peter’s University.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mrs. Otterbein-Yoo