Masters Hosts Its First Model UN Conference

11/11/2022

With the tap of the gavel, the first Masters Model UN (MUN) conference on Saturday, November 5, was officially underway.

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Thirty six upper school and 13 middle school delegates represented Masters at the all-day event. The School’s MUN teams hosted more than 50 diplomats from seven local schools: Fort Lee High School, Hastings High School, Mahopac High School, Leman Manhattan Preparatory School, The Storm King School, Ethical Culture Fieldston School and The Ursuline School.

“Seeing every chair in Doc Wilson Hall filled during opening and closing ceremonies, knowing all the work we've put in over the past year had paid off was the best feeling,” said Secretary-General Lorelei McCarthy ’23. “I was Director-General last year, so I've seen this conference through every stage, from a hazy goal to a fully realized 80 delegate conference with seven distinct committees.”

According to faculty advisor Brittany Farrar, the conference was a longtime dream come true for Masters MUN students. “It’s a big achievement to go from a competing team to a team that hosts a multi-divisional conference,” she shared. “Not many schools in the country can pull off this kind of logistical and educational experience.”

McCarthy, along with Secretary-General Ella Dundas ’23, Director-General Violet Paull ’24, Under-Secretary-General of Middle School Operations Bobby Callagy ’24 and Under-Secretary-General of Crisis Committees Amelia von Jan ’23, led the opening ceremonies before committees dispersed to Masters Hall for debate, diplomacy and camaraderie. Students tackled topics such as the Trojan War, Brexit, the 2020 Olympics and the 2017 Grammy Awards.

“The best thing to come out of the event for our competitive team is that chairing a committee gives you a new perspective to work with when you are a delegate next,” McCarthy explained. “All of our chairs/crisis directors learned so much about debate and how to structure a committee timeline and that's going to serve them well at upcoming conferences.”

Middle school MUN co-chair Valentina Valdivia ’27, who assumed the role of Achilles on the Trojan War joint crisis committee, found her first in-person conference experience to be memorable. “Overall, the debate was very exciting and the directives we passed allowed us to achieve our objectives,” said Valdivia.

Masters’ delegates took home four awards during the closing ceremonies.

Knox Gary ’28, Outstanding Delegate: Priam, Trojan War Committee
Lena Paull ’27, Best Delegate: Aphrodite, Trojan War Committee
Clio Foley ’26, Verbal Commendation: Ukraine, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee
Will Black ’25, Outstanding Delegate: Egypt, International Atomic Energy Agency

Upper school diplomats are setting their sights on next year’s MasMUNC II and are now gearing up for next weekend’s Princeton MUN Conference. “We are bringing 20 delegates, our largest delegation size yet,” said an enthusiastic McCarthy.