By Brigid Clifford, Editor-in-Chief

The Model United Nations (MUN) club participated in the Seventeenth Session of the Boston Invitational Model United Nations Conference on Feb. 9-11. Nine juniors and seniors were accompanied by MUN faculty moderators Jennifer Havens and Nicole Sadowksi for their weekend at the conference.

Seniors and juniors from the ModelUN Club attended the BosMUN Conference in Boston on Feb. 9-11. (Photo courtesy of Jen Havens)

The BosMUN Conference is one for more experienced students, with more than 1,500 student delegates participating, many of whom have been attending conferences for years. This was a bit daunting for the Trinity Hall delegates, but they were ready for the challenge. They were also enticed by the conference’s unique crisis committees — select committees that could be called down for an emergency session in the middle of the night.

“Our leadership wanted something where they would be away and have a little bit more responsibility and more asked of them inside the conference room,” Sadowksi said. “[The students] weren’t intimidated by large groups and more experienced delegates. They were confident in their rooms and really were a part of the solution process.”

The three-day conference began with opening ceremonies for the delegates and a speaker from UNICEF. The delegates then broke off into the first of five committee sessions, in which they wrote working papers, clauses and resolutions for the designated topic they had been assigned. Some of these included Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, World Council of Indigenous Peoples and UN World Tourism Organization. Each girl represented a different country in the committee session.

“I felt comfortable and confident speaking up in my committee room,” MUN co-president Catherine Loder said. “It was definitely a welcoming environment.”

To prepare for the weekend, the students did research on their assigned country’s stance on the issues that would be discussed in the committee sessions. They then wrote position papers describing their country’s beliefs and stances.

Students supported Team USA’s participation in the Winter Olympics by dressing in red, white and blue for the Delegate Dance at the BosMUN Conference on Feb. 10. (Photo courtesy of Jen Havens)

“Writing a position paper helped me to better understand my topic but also posed as an outline for my ideas so that I was able to be more involved in the conversation,” said senior Kailin BurnsCohen, who was a member of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as a Liaison to the NRO.

One of the many highlights of the weekend was attending the Delegate Dance, which was a chance for the student delegates to have fun and get to know each other outside of the committee sessions. The Trinity Hall students dressed in red, white, and blue to celebrate the United States in the Winter Olympics.

The MUN club will be putting the BosMUN conference on the agenda for years to come based on the positive feedback from the students. The faculty moderators were pleased with the weekend as well. “We were so proud of our students this weekend,” Sadowski said. “We couldn’t have been any happier with the way they performed in their respective committees…They were poised and respectful and informed, and they truly represented Trinity Hall well.”