This guest post was written by Alex Marsh and Naomi Greengold, Co-Secretaries-General of Howard High School Model United Nations in Ellicott City, Maryland, with special thanks to their sponsor, Mrs. Masami Stratton.
The Howard High School Model United Nations Conference Secretariat (left to right): Zak Vilschick, Alex Marsh, Naomi Greengold, Aymin Farooq, Bolade Amoussou, Zenab Ayaz, Brittney Fonmedig, Sarah George, Nick Howard. Not Shown: Maryam Chaudhry, Josh Mensah.
On March 23, 2019, Howard and Long Reach High Schools hosted its first Middle School Training Model United Nations Conference. As the Secretariat, we ran into several challenges along the way, but it was so satisfying to plan and run it — not to mention so much fun!
It all started last October, when our Model UN Club had an idea. We love Model UN, and are glad that we were able to spend our high school careers involved in an engaging and scholastic program, but what if we could introduce it to students earlier than freshman year?
We asked our sponsor, Mrs. Stratton, if a Middle School Conference was doable. We brainstormed and thought it would be great to co-host with our neighboring high school, Long Reach. They agreed and we were off and running.
Then we ran into a few challenges. Here are the 3 key challenges we faced, and how we solved them.
One of our first challenges was getting together to plan.
We overcame that by video conferencing through FaceTime. We set meeting agendas and worked through shared documents on Google drive.
We all had busy schedules to accommodate. So during our first video conference, we set aside all of the dates we needed to meet. That way, we knew what had to be accomplished and by when.
Setting priorities and being organized was definitely our best strategy in overcoming this first challenge. We also had our sponsors check with one another the day before each planned video conference so we were aware of our commitment.
Another challenge was marketing!
Starting from scratch was especially difficult because we had no prior name recognition in the area aside from our school name.
We targeted our feeder middle schools so we can not only teach them what we love about Model UN but then they could join us when they enter high school. But how do we get the word out to them?
Our sponsors reached out to the middle school principals, but it was hard to get excitement going.
So we produced an “infomercial” — three of our leadership group recorded an “invitation” segment that the middle school teachers could play for their students to introduce our conference.
That hooked the middle schoolers and we eventually had sixteen delegates sign up from four different schools — Ellicott Mills, Bonnie Branch, Burleigh Manor, and Mayfield Woods!
The final challenge was, what do we teach them?
We decided to split the day. In the morning, we dedicated time to teaching delegates how to conduct research on their assigned country and topics. We also worked on improving their public speaking skills and educating them on parliamentary procedure.
After lunch, we held a mock session that put their learning into action. We used a “Zombie Apocalypse” simulation to encourage their imagination!
Then we had our afternoon committee simulation. We had originally anticipated shyness, but we were happily proven wrong.
The middle school delegates were engaged and excited — and they reminded us of our first times participating in a Model United Nations conference.
Now on to our next challenge — hosting next year’s conference!
We hope to make this an annual event, and can’t wait to see it grow in the future!
Congratulations to Howard and Long Reach High Schools for organizing their first MUN conference!
Helping student leaders overcome MUN challenges is what we teach at the Model United Nations Institute — check out our highlights video below!
