By J1 Reporter Reese Eggers

“Decorum delegates!” a University of Chicago student yells into a room filled with students from around the globe, all who are attempting to have a more active role in the world around them. Model United Nations is a club that encourages students to take a more active role in the world, fostering healthy conversations about global issues. Recently, Marian students travelled to Chicago to participate in the 39th annual conference. 

Sarah Egan, Marian junior, a member of the Model United Nations (MUN) Club since her sophomore year, speaks highly of her experience and everything it has taught her. “Since joining Model United Nations, I’ve been able to learn more about how other countries are interacting rather than just hearing about the aftermath of those interactions,” she said. 

At the simulation in Chicago, Egan was met with the challenge of forming into blocs, a situation when, or when… a group of delegates with similar views, compromise to find a solution and write a resolution in hopes of it passing. Egan’s resolution—a paper pushing to decrease the power of multinational corporations—passed!

Egan was a part of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, but there were a variety of committees to choose from, ranging from groups of just a few students to committees that held hundreds. 

Alex Stamos, sophomore at the Latin School of Chicago, had a similarly positive experience, but was in an entirely different committee. 

Stamos was in the United Nations Children’s Funds Committee, a committee that had fewer than 70 students. Stamos was met with a different set of challenges than Egan, having to navigate difficult power struggles and attempt to solve the decades long unsolved issue of children’s malnutrition. Although these two students were in different committees, they had very similar takeaways. “The conference enabled me to make an impact—although only for a few days—in strangers’ lives. I believe that the skills gained from this conference will benefit me for the rest of my life,” Stamos said.

Marian’s Model United Nations Club encourages students to look at the world through a magnifying glass, pushing students to understand what is happening in the world around them, and even more importantly, to take action.