The Voyagers researched position papers about Ireland’s political, social and economic policies. The students held different positions each with the goal of creating a consensus and promoting international peace and security. At the conclusion of the conference, the team received the Overall Outstanding Delegation, the event’s top recognition.

Sophomore Emma Clement described how the team prepared for the Model UN conference.

“To prepare, the members of the team met in Voyagers room once every few weeks during seminar and silver five,” Clement said. “We researched Ireland’s government structure and past policies. As we got closer to the conference we began to write position papers for our council. For me, I was in the environment assembly so I had to write a two page paper about Ireland’s past environmental policies and recommendations for the UN.”

Additionally, junior Sarah Johnston explained the purpose of the conference. 

“The purpose of the Model UN conference was to allow us to gain a better understanding of global affairs while also growing as debaters and public speakers,” Johnston said. “We had to have a general understanding of the UN’s goals of peacekeeping democracy, but we were also required to have specific top-knowledge about the concepts up for debate in our respective assemblies. My topics were security in the age of information- communication technologies and women and disarmament. So I had to do extensive research into these areas in preparation for the event.”

Clement defines what is required to receive the overall outstanding delegation award.

“The Outstanding Delegation award was only awarded to two delegations at the conference, and as it was our first time competing we were all incredibly excited,” Clement said. “It required every member of the delegation to do a good job on the day of the conference, and when writing position papers leading up to the event.”

Reflecting on the conference, Johnston shared her feelings about the outcome of the conference

“We went to the tournament with zero expectations since we had never competed in a Model UN conference before,” Johnston said. “We never anticipated walking out with as many awards as we did, but I know that we were all ecstatic to have performed so well, both individually and as a team. It was certainly not easy to accomplish, so I’m thrilled that we got the outcome that we did.”