By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Seven Bowling Green High School students were the A-team representing the school and community at the Model United Nations hosted by the University of Chicago Feb. 8-11.
Lucy Nomaguchi-Long, a junior, won an Outstanding Delegation award—the highest award possible for a committee, for her work in the Cabinet of Sir Seretse Khama Crisis Committee.
Junior Sam Challu and sophomore Romy Nazario tag-teamed as a dual delegation to earn an Honorable Mention award representing Tunisia on the Economic and Finance Committee in the Model UN’s General Assembly.
Ashley Knowlton, Carter Pant, Korrine Nadler and Sierra Jesse also attended as delegates for the Bowling Green team, contributing to the discourse of some of the world’s most pressing current issues and reenactment of historical world crises, which are foundational to the Model UN competition.
During Model UN, commonly referred to as MUN, students represent the positions and values of assigned countries and collaborate with other delegates to reach a consensus on innovative solutions through negotiations and drafting of resolutions.
The research for all the roles at MUNUC36 (the acronym for MUN at the University of Chicago) was done ahead of the event.
Nomaguchi-Long thoroughly researched the topic and the overarching problem for her role as Motsamai Mpho, independent Botswana’s first ruler, which earned her the Outstanding Delegate award. The crisis committee worked to find solutions to the neocolonialism and imperialism that was impacting the country’s ability to boost its economy from a found mine of diamonds.
The awards were presented to delegates, not necessarily for having the final solution, but to those who did the research, accurately represented their position and were diplomatic and collaborative
“It’s really about working together to create a solution and who was the best at making everyone else’s ideas are heard,” Nomaguchi-Long explained. “Winning the award felt great and to see that my efforts paid off, but even without the award I would have been equally satisfied because it was fun to have all these discussions and exchanges of ideas.”
Challu and Nazario, whose representation of Tunisia in the General Assembly’s Economic and Finance Committee, resulted in an Honorable Mention award. In a large committee of roughly 300 people, Bowling Green’s dual delegates debated the global issue of empowering women through new forms of finance.
“Going into a committee of that size, you already know that the top five ideas you find on a Google search will be spoken about a hundred times,” Challu said. “We chose to look at it a little more unconventionally to highlight solutions that would be very unique and make an impression.”
One of the solutions the BGHS team offered to address the inequity that women face around the globe was to use Starlink, the satellite product of Elon Musk’s SpaceX that provides internet connectivity to the whole world. “It’s about discussing the solutions that are not already presented,” he said.
“Once you realize that it’s not about the most inflammatory speaking, you learn it’s about being able to push the committee and bring in new ideas,” Nazario said.
The dual delegates presented the Starlink idea in an opening speech and eventually, with Challu’s strength in public speaking and Nazario’s ability to negotiate with others, the Starlink proposal was adopted by all the other committee delegates’ papers.
Most often solutions and research are presented during negotiations with other delegates and the papers that are shared rather than in presentations and speeches.
“A big part of MUN is collaboration. It is a competition, but in the end, it’s about achieving a common goal,” said Nomaguchi-Long.
An important part of the competition is for members to maintain the role they are assigned, explained BGHS club President Ashley Knowlton, who was Belgium’s Marthe McKenna in the historical crisis committee that dealt with World War I’s Dame Blanche. “I feel like our delegation did a really good job maintaining their role,” she said.
Go Team Model UN
According to Challu, their adviser, BGHS French teacher Madame (Mary) Kern, compares the 22-member Model UN club to a sports team. “You can associate everything that the players and participants do by the game that you watch, but there’s so much more that goes on behind the scenes that develops them as a person—the hard skills and the soft skills,” he said.
Just like in sports, the Model UN members know practice is critical to the team’s success. The preparation that is practiced in weekly meetings and officer training is where individuals work on developing the skills that enhance their overall game.
Through the practices at home and the actual competitions, participants gain independence, self-sufficiency, and the ability to collaborate with others, articulate their own ideas and advocate for themselves. They also learn to navigate a busy city, go to a restaurant and pay for themselves, Challu said. “It’s important for students to know they might want to travel, go to restaurants in a new city and have discussions about important topics with other teenagers. That’s what Model UN is about.”
Convincing their peers about the benefits of participating in Model UN isn’t as easy as getting them to join a sports team. The value can’t easily be explained on a flyer. How do you describe that sense of accomplishment that comes from presenting in front of a roomful of strangers? Or how do you define the Model UN community?
For Knowlton, who graduates this spring, Model UN has learned the value of collaborating with others and using skills together. “I find comfort in being able to find a community in a group. I will carry this with me in college and maybe even join a team in college,” she said.
Nazario has enjoyed getting to know her teammates beyond the practices and the competition. “One of the best parts (at the competitions) is to go back to the room and tell each other about the committees and give each other advice. You grow and develop and get to know one another a little better. It was great to have upperclassmen like Ashley to look up to,” she said.
The Bowling Green team is fortunate to usually compete in three MUNs each academic year. This year they competed in Dayton and Chicago and will round out the season at Ohio State University’s competition March 8-10. They also host a “miniMUN” for Bowling Green eighth graders to learn about the organization.
The members were quick to credit Kern for helping them understand how Model UN develops important, lifelong skills, and the officer team for providing leadership throughout the year.
“We owe Madame Kern so much. We’re able to attend the conferences because of the paperwork and finances she oversees. She’s making sure we’re all prepared, and she’s just on top of us making sure we know where we’re going, what we’re doing. Yeah, the experiences that we have wouldn’t be possible without her,” Nomaguchi-Long said.
“We’re fortunate that Madame has been able to continue to develop the club and allow us to go to these conferences. Quite a few clubs aren’t able to have those same experiences,” Challu added.
The club would benefit from additional community support, Kern mentioned. “We accept donations to help fund our conferences. Donations can be made via a check payable to BGHS Model UN.”
“There’s beauty in this club that is full of diversity. Everyone’s collecting around the same goals of public speaking and bettering yourself,” Challu said. “It’s important that people understand it is for anyone. We all hold this so dear to us because of how helpful it’s been in our lives. We can all come together around this unique experience, even though we are from different places,”
