Feature

Centennial’s Model United Nations Conference

November 25, 2021

Over 160 students from all across Maryland gathered at Centennial to participate in the 13th annual Centennial High School Model United Nations Conference (CHS MUNC) on November 13, 2021.

Student delegates congregated in an attempt to solve current and historical issues involving the United Nations. The delegates divided into committees which consisted of the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM), Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL), United Nations Security Council (UNSC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and Historic Crisis. These committees discussed topics ranging from the ban on wildlife animal trade to the international peaceful usage of the final frontier; the students spent a total of eight hours debating these issues.

Senior Ethan Li, co-president of the Centennial Model United Nations chapter, explained that, “in short, it was students coming together to solve actual real life problems in a simulated conference format where the countries take turns to write resolutions and essentially save the world.”

The CHS MUNC is the oldest and largest Model United Nations conference held by a high school in Maryland. Planning for this event began early summer and required a fall coordinator to help piece together the conference.

This year the fall coordinator was junior Yunah Kwon who was placed in charge of overseeing all the committee plans as well as contacting and inviting schools to the conference. Kwon stated that, “the CHS MUNC is the highlight conference of the year because it’s very introductory and for many people, a first impression of model UN”.

The CHS MUNC allows for novice level delegates to “indulge themselves into their role while advocating for a country, especially since everyone has a common goal,” according to Li.

This year the goal of CHS MUNC was to “bring back the in-person experiences,” said Model UN advisor Cho Vu. Through the COVID-19 pandemic many students lacked the opportunity to expand their public speaking skills and this year Vu wanted to bring back the student led conference atmosphere.

Though this year’s CHS Model United Nations Conference was the first one back in-person after a period of online forums, Li believed that it was “a strong return to model UN.”