This guest post was provided by Olvia Bloukos (‘20) of Westwood High School in Massachusetts, with special thanks to MUN Advisor Chris Hilton.
In its third year, WestwoodMUNC felt more successful than ever. This year, we expanded from four crisis committees to a total of six due to such great interest, one of which even being a middle school simulation.
Six crisis committees are no small feat: with two crisis directors, six chairs, and six co-chairs, however, we made it possible. We started preparing for this conference around November, where our first step was to entertain ideas for committees. This year, we hosted a range of topics bred by the interests of the chairs: we held a simulation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in 1980, a future UNFCC set in 2030, a simulation of the 2008 financial crisis, two Security Council committees regarding the Yemeni Civil War (one of which was tailored to middle schoolers,) and a simulation of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
14 high school students trying to balance schoolwork with writing their background guides can be an overwhelming disaster if inadequately executed, yet the WestwoodMUNC secretariat pulled together six background guides without fail. Not only did chairs have to research their topics tirelessly, but something that proved to be a challenge was keeping up with current events pertaining to our committees, particularly in the DNC and Yemeni Civil War committees. With new politicians declaring candidacy in the burgeoning field, and no shortage of articles regarding policy pertaining to the war, both seemingly daily, it was definitely a challenge to keep background guides as current as possible up to the moment they were released to delegates.
As the chair of the DNC committee, I found myself particularly excited for the unique agenda of the day: rather than spending all the time in committee in moderated and unmoderated caucuses, the committee was designed to have primary elections before the lunch period, with delegates from other committees voting to narrow down the democratic candidates. Delegates represented 4 candidates who had announced their campaigns quite early, as well their campaign team members, and a wide selection of PACs and celebrity endorsers.
Perhaps the highlight of the DNC committee was the primary voting. During the lunch period for all delegates throughout the conference, DNC delegates roamed the cafeteria pining for the support of WestwoodMUNC attendees, both staff and students. The exit of the lunch area held polls where presidential candidates and their campaign teams stood, and although the secretariat expected fewer people to be inclined to vote, people were more than willing to contribute to the flow of the DNC committee.
During actual committee sessions themselves, debate was plentiful. While candidates debated actual policy issues, there was a larger focus on the democratic party as a whole and the way in which their platform would be used as a means of pushing President Trump out of office, rather than fighting amongst themselves. With frequent crises, such as Beto O’Rourke joining Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign team and even some visits from President Trump himself, played by a WestwoodMUNC crisis actor, delegates seemed thoroughly amused with the flow of the committee.
By the end of the final session of committee, the DNC had voted within to nominate Sen. Elizabeth Warren as their frontrunning Presidential candidate, closing a day of amusing, fast-paced debate.
In reflection, perhaps the most important part of being the chair of the DNC committee at WestwoodMUNC was that it brought me to an interest in politics personally, which, as an American citizen and the young voice of the nation in the 2020 election, is essential to understand.
