Model UN?

Parents Forum
#1

<p>My D told us yesterday her class is participating in a model UN weekend in February. This is a higher-than-honors/AP-level program that, since freshman year, has had a language-based, inter-disciplinary focus (English/Social Studies/Foreign Language--not a STEM type honors program). </p>

<p>I'm thrilled she's doing it but know absolutely nothing about it. Is this an EC at some schools? Is there tons of prep-work for it? This seems a little last minute to me but I have no basis of comparison.</p>

<p>Any insight appreciated, thanks.</p>

#2

<p>Is this NAIMUN in DC?</p>

#3

<p>I have NO idea. She told me it was $250 and that she's got the money saved. I'm a horrible mom.</p>

#4

<p>If it's only $250, it's likely not NAIMUN. Unless you're in the DC area. I'm curious because ds was supposed to go, but the flights have really increased the cost and we're now trying to figure out whether it's worth it.</p>

<p>Soooo ...</p>

<p>If anyone has any opinions on NAIMUN, specifically, I'd love to hear them.</p>

<p>In terms of Model UN as an activity, both my kids did it and loved it. At some schools, it's a class. At some schools, it's a club. At some schools, it's both. How much work you put into is up to you. Ds2 spends several hours before a competition researching and preparing his notebooks. It's not last minute at all to just now begin preparing for a February competition. The schools have to determine which countries and committees they represent before the real work begins.</p>

#5

<p>The level of advance preparation varies widely. Some high school teams basically show up and wing it, other schools offer MUN as a class and study all year.</p>

#6

<p>MUN varies greatly from school to school. One of my kids participated freshman year in the Nashville area and went to a conference right in Nashville - day trip. Her prep work was minimal and it seemed like a very unlikely solution to a major world issue. When we moved to Shanghai, China the school there had a much more serious commitment to MUN and participated in several conferences - from city-wide to international - with resolutions picked to be presented at the actual United Nations. The kids who participated were well informed and excellent debaters.</p>

#7

<p>Thank you all. I have an old friend from HS who is a teacher in another country and I know the MUN is HUGE for him and his school, I didn't want to offend by asking sort of "off the cuff" about it since I don't think it's a real big deal to my D. Hopefully she'll take it as seriously as she does everything else and do well!!</p>

#8

<p>There is a MUN hosted by U of Chicago in February. MUN is a club at our school, seems loosely organized by the students with very little adult supervision, so I never know what is going on.</p>

#9

<p>S2 went to NAIMUN all four years of HS and had a great (non-partying) time. NAIMUN is held in Feb. every year. They get a good deal on hotel rooms -- we are local and his cost was $125 (his team stayed at the hotel) plus meals. If the parents/sponsor are driving and are not too far away, $250 pp does not sound out of whack. Tell her to expect lots of walking and to bring footwear that will handle snow/ice, since there is often snow in DC in Feb.</p>

<p>And kudos for your D for saving her own $$ to pay for it!</p>

#10

<p>There is MUN at Yale, too. In late January. </p>

<p>At my school, we take an international relations class and MUN is a field trip. You are not penalized if you cannot attend.</p>

#11

<p>D2's school offers it as a class, many students apply and they choose 20 students. It is mandatory for students to go to a chosen conference. They also host a conference for both middle school and high school on campus. Those conferences are organized by the students. In class, they research and discuss issues related to MUN. D2 is enjoying the class very much and getting much out of it.</p>

#12

<p>It's probably the JHU conference. That's in February and it costs about $250.</p>

#13

<p>It was a club at S's HS but they spent weeks prepping for upcoming conferences. And flew to conferences all over the US. It was a big deal at his school. They have sign ups at S's HS, the conferences fill up weeks before they attend. My athletic S loved this club. Ithink it may have had a lot to do with the teacher, but do remember reading that it is a popular club at many schools.</p>

#14

<p>MUN is club activity at schools here in India. There is almost always a
History/Political Science or English Lit teacher as a supervisor. Like the name suggests it is to teach children the workings of UN with the exact procedures and protocols to be followed. They have weekly meetings at school and then members get selected to represent their school in Inter-school as well as International MUNs. They also hold similar MUN at their own school and send invites to other schools for participation.</p>

<p>The kids are allotted a country so they begin with researching the cultural and historical aspect to be able to represent that country accurately and take a stand when entering a debate and are also assigned a specific topic of discussion related to one of the committees of UN could the Security Council, the WHO, The General Assembly and also are called delegates. So I would say the learning is phenomenal.</p>

<p>The activity, in my opinion, is great learning and a journey of self awareness. My daughter was involved for 5 years at school and continued her interest in College as well. She was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend 5 International and many more local MUN sessions. It helps one to become confident debater, develop excellent communication skills and public speaking skills, learn to be articulate and practice effective research and paper writing skills, makes you aware of the real world issues related to politics, economy, security etc.</p>

#15

<p>DH coaches MUN at his school - it's a wonderful activity. I've gone along to national conferences as a chaperone, and it's great fun to watch. There's the usual boy/girl intrigue, except often they don't know each other's names, just countries...so you'll be walking in the hotel corridor, and a boy will yell, "Hey, Philippines!" And some kids take it VERY seriously, with the briefcase, suit, the whole 9 yards. The conferences are usually run by a college group (they use it as a fundraiser for their own team) - and, sorry to say, those kids can be absolutely insufferable. Think 19-year-olds who don't hope, they <em>know</em>, they're going to be president some day. A little power is a dangerous thing.</p>

#16

<p>Just don't let your model UN end up like this: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/09/30/community-recap_n_988868.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/09/30/community-recap_n_988868.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

#17

<p>Model UN was just regular activity at D's HS, nothing special, she did not mention it in any applications.</p>

#18

<p>In MUN each team member is assigned a country to represent. You may be the USA or some tiny country you didn't know existed. Then you are assigned to a council (say the security council or human rights etc.)
Each of the councils are given a topic(s) to debate/discuss and you defend the proposals made based on the views of your country. You can see where the research part comes in now. At the end of the conference awards are given (gavel awards, certificates)
,MUN was a club at son'ts HS. They competed probably 4 times per year. Two HS competitions and usually 2 college sponsered ones. They were also able to go to the Harvard MUN which was great. He usually had to write position papers before a conference.
At another school in our area, MUN was a regular class and involved a lot of work on a regular basis.
MUN is also a club in college (my son is in it as a college freshman and really loves it.)
The colleges compete against one another and also sponser competitions at the high school level.
And yeah Pgh--he'll make a great president some day! :)</p>

#19

<p>And, gouf78, I'll bet he'll be a better debater than Mr. Perry!! :-)</p>

#20

<p>MUN is a great activity. My younger son did it for 2 years when we were overseas. The first year, the conference was in Cairo (fun to go back and visit a former "home") and DS was the representative for Vietnam. The 2nd time, he wanted to do something different - so he applied to be part of the journalist staff, as a photographer. He was approved for the position, and spent 2 days running back and forth between 3 hotels in downtown Beijing. He had a blast both times.</p>

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