Leesville’s Model United Nations club left school early on November 9 to attend the Model Security Council Conference in Boone. The conference took place on Appalachian State’s campus from November 9 to 10.
Model United Nations is a club that has been at Leesville for a while now, but didn’t gain traction until three years ago. Students in the club participate in mock debates about world topics, similarly to how the real United Nations operates. They do extensive research to best represent the country they were assigned and their views.
Seventeen of Model UN members attended the conference in Appalachian State. Since it was overnight, only veteran members were allowed to attend. The small number of attendees didn’t hurt Leesville’s performance, however. The delegates from LRHS received several awards, including Best Position Paper by Maggie Pollard and Jennifer Paul (World Health Organization), Excellent Delegation by Alex Jensen (BREXIT), Superior Delegation by Daniel Mosakewick and Matthew Falcinelli (Environmental Programme), and Honorable Mention by Mariana Herrera and Tushar Varma (Environmental Programme).
“I was excited but a little nervous [about the conference],” said Jennifer Paul, a sophomore at Leesville. She joined Model UN during her freshman year.
“I hadn’t gone to a conference since last year at UNC, and this was also for returning members only so I felt there was some responsibility, like you should step up to the plate and do well,” said Paul.
“I like the general atmosphere [of Model UN]. I think students coming together and thinking of about real world problems is something really interesting… It’s always fun no matter where you go,” said Paul.
Appalachian State isn’t the only conference for the MUN team this year. New members went to a Training Conference in Chapel Hill to learn about parliamentary procedure on November 5. Two other conferences– one hosted by Duke and another by the University of North Carolina– will take place in February and is available for all members.
