Returning home from their first meet in St. Louis, Niles West’s Model United Nations (Model UN) team is focused on doing better and coming up with new strategies. Sponsor Neil Koreman leads them this year, coming back for his third year in a row, bringing new ideas to the table.

Model UN simulates the processes of the actual United Nations General Assembly, and students take on the role of an ambassador for a particular country, participating in debates, giving speeches, and drafting and negotiating terms and resolutions in order to solve a particular conflict. Members of Model UN are assigned countries and resources, and they are given a simulated crisis they must solve with students from another school. It can be either real world, like finding solutions to the hunger crisis and negotiating at the end of World War II, or goofy things, like what to do when the world Tri-wizard Tournament is coming up.

“Model United Nations is an opportunity for students to gain experience in leadership and negotiation by mimicking what the UN does to solve crises and current events,” Koreman said.

Model UN participates in conferences, rather than in bracket competitions like Debate or the Math team. Recently, they traveled to St. Louis to participate in the conference held at Washington University. The objective is not to win individually, but to be able to work together as a group, representing a country or government, and come to a resolution that provides the best possible outcome for those involved.

There are awards, however: some students can take home awards for outstanding leadership and skills.

“We did really well [in St. Louis]; we may or may not have someone who was voted best delegate in one of the sections. We were the most savage group,” junior and member Umar Ahmed joked.

Despite the hinting, they did not win an award with the exception that one of their members, junior Dat Luu, who was the only one who survived the end of the war, which is close enough to a win for the team.

Their upcoming competition is CIMUN, or the Chicago International Model United Nations conference, starting on Nov. 30 and going until Dec. 3 at the Michigan Ave. Hilton downtown.

“I really love it because it gives students a chance to explore a collaboration they’ve never experienced before. A lot of academic stuff is focused internally, while Model UN is all about being external and learning to collaborate. I went to a conference last year and I learned about a real issue I had never even heard about before. Now I get to take that knowledge and educate other people,” senior and Model UN secretary Darby Chamness said.

Interested students are welcome join at any time, and although they won’t be able to attend the conferences right away, they’ll be given the tools and instruction necessary to be able to work with the group at the next conference. Model UN meets on Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. in room 3335, so if you want to get involved, or just want to know a little more about what it’s all about, be sure to check it out.