USN reloads the love at Model UN conference

While other USN community members were outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather this past weekend, 50 USN High School students traveled to Murfreesboro to participate in the Model United Nations conference sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Center For Civic Engagement. Together, they maintained USN’s tradition of providing leadership from the front, in the middle, and at the end of the conference components.
By Mackey Luffman, High School History Teacher, Model UN & Youth In Government Advisor

Leading from the front of this year’s conference was Margot Ross '24, serving as President of the General Assembly. She was ably assisted by General Assembly Vice-Presidents Caroline Keiper '25 and Brendan West '25, as all three shared responsibilities with other elected student officers to facilitate debates in the General Assembly and its committees. Also leading from the front this year was Ophelia Cherry-Pulay '25 as President of the Security Council, responsible for both facilitating the work of the council (managing some considerable egos in the room) in addition to representing China — always a challenge in today’s political climate.

This year’s seniors brought the term girlboss to the Model UN lexicon. Key figures in that upgrade were Maddie Ewing '24, Kylee Abramson '24, Laney Drew Hirt '24, and Laura Grace Hirt '24, representing Maldives in their third year of Model UN. A fun fact: Laura Grace and Margot are the only seniors to have participated in the pandemic “Zoom Model UN” in 2020! Their resolution, calling for a treaty convention to create legal parameters for populations displaced by climate change, was ranked second in their committee, and all four delegates were nominated for outstanding delegate awards for their participation in debate during the committee session.  Fellow veteran seniors — and girl bosses, which I am assured by our students is gender-neutral in its usage — Xavier Warren '24, Henry Wykoff '24, Caroline Quinones '24, and Cole Patterson ‘24 represented Thailand and sponsored a resolution calling for updating the international response to drug trafficking in southeast Asia. Chloe Cmelak '24, Alima Kassim '24, and Claire Gilliam '24 represented Paraguay and presented a resolution to increase UNESCO funding for elementary education in Latin America. Their resolution was ranked first in committee and passed by the GA! Seniors in good standing and first-time Model UN Delegates Mark Luschen '24, Maximus Gulmi '24, Ryan Lowe '24, and Evan Ozgener '24 represented Slovenia and wrote a resolution promoting revising international agreements on sustainable agricultural production in the face of natural disasters caused by climate change and declining freshwater sources. Their resolution was ranked second in their committee! 

Juniors also flexed their skills. Ellie Rothman '25 represented Brazil in the Security Council and was instrumental in developing the Security Council resolution presented to the Plenary session. In the General Assembly, Model UN veterans Beckett Dahir '25, Sid Pruthi '25, Siddhi Voona '25, and Stewart Hall '25 represented Saint Lucia. Their resolution called for the creation of an international database for Small Island Developing States to use in response to and to plan for natural disasters. Their resolution was ranked first in their committee and passed by the GA! Tessa Chomsky '25, Jade Parella '25, and Anna Picasso '25 represented Lithuania and wrote a resolution to strengthen the international support for refugees from the conflict in Ukraine fleeing to neighboring countries; their resolution was also ranked first in their committee and passed the GA. Erin Joyce '25, Cameron Boros '25, Zinnia Nichols Loller '25, and Bronson Schmidt '25 represented Brazil, and their resolution calling for UN regulation of deforestation practices caused quite a stir, including a visit to the Security Council; it was also ranked first in their committee and passed by the GA! Erin was nominated for an outstanding delegate award for her work as a committee chair. First-time Model UN delegates Madeline Chalos '25, Liv O’Hara '25, Gibson Hurley '25, and Oliver McDowell '25 represented eSwatini (“Swaziland,” if you mind has been colonized) and sponsored a resolution to expand the resources for women’s health care in sub-Saharan African countries, particularly in response to the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis.

Model UN is also an opportunity for the classes to mix. A multi-class delegation represented Serbia in the GA: Jaya Gupta '25, Kermina Rezk '25, and Carmen Gaskin '25 joined Z Aulino '26 and wrote a resolution to provide international subsidies for urban algae tanks, or “liquid trees,” in cities to fight air pollution. Their resolution was also ranked first in committee! Are you sensing a theme here?

USN sophomores and ninth graders were present also. Lin Zheng '26, Maeve Stevenson '26, Laura Fonseca '26, and Binyam Dunne '26 represented Pakistan and presented a resolution to increase UN funding for the latest HIV treatments in developing countries; their resolution was — you guessed it — ranked first in their committee and passed by the GA! Harper Martin '29, Darcy Dove '26, and Frances Strauss ‘26 represented Croatia and presented a resolution to increase funding for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in light of the pressure on member states to provide services for displaced peoples. Finally, Aaron Raney '27, Elisabeth Crane '27, Caroline Stinner '27, and Avery Savona ‘27 represented Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and presented a resolution to apply international standards for regulating tourism in developing countries. 

Our students were their usual outstanding selves! The awards committees saw fit to give Outstanding Delegate Awards to Kylee, LG Hirt, Caroline, Beckett, Tessa Chomsky '25, and Binyam! Xavier won a special Summit Diplomacy Award for his leadership in crafting and presenting a resolution to deliver UN humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

The delegations for eSwatini (Madeline, Liv, Gibson, and Oliver) and Lithuania (Tessa, Jade, and Anna) also won Outstanding Resolution Awards! 

Finally, four USN students  — Brendan, Caroline, Z, and Binyam — ran in elections to serve as GA officers for next year’s conference. Binyam was elected to be a Vice-President of the General Assembly, and Brendan was elected to be Secretary-General, the highest student office at the conference! He joins Greta Li '22 as the only USN student to hold that position (so far). 

In the Security Council, Ophelia was re-elected President of the Security Council, and Ellie was elected Security Council Liaison! 

Please congratulate these students when you see them for a job well done!

Special thanks to colleagues Sarah Dey, Alissa Murdoch, and Justin Karpinos for their duties as chaperones, and stay tuned for announcements about this spring’s Youth In Government conference!
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