On April 29th, Canterbury’s Model U.N. students joined delegates from Kent School, Brewster, Westover, and Millbrook at Kent School for a Model U.N. Conference. For the past few weeks, members of Canterbury’s U.N. (CSMUN) have been working diligently to research and write position papers.
After attending a brief introductory presentation, delegates split up into individual committees. Canterbury was represented on two committees: the Executive Committee and the United States Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works. Throughout the day, Kent officers periodically announced fictional “crises” that arose surrounding the topic. Delegates had to handle these issues, which involved everything from information leaks to assassination attempts, while also balancing public opinion, foreign pressure, and interactions with governments and organizations.
The Executive Committee traveled back in time to 1962 and discussed solutions to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through a naval blockade and careful negotiations with the USSR, missiles were removed from the island. Joyce Gao ‘20 and Sabrina Capodicci ‘20 participated as McGeorge Bundy and Paul Nitze, respectively.
The Committee on Environmental and Public Works was designed as a Republican-dominated committee. Thus, it was even more impressive when the Democratic minority was able to pass sweeping reforms limiting global warming and climate change. Delegates discussed the effects of climate change on everyone from corporations to the very poor. Yurou (Sonia) Li ‘21, Steven Luo ‘19, and Ji Lee ‘20 participated as Ben Cardin, Bernie Sanders, and Dan Sullivan, respectively. Steven Luo took home a Most Improved Delegate award. He represented Bernie Sanders on the Committee on Environmental and Public Works.
The Kent School conference also has a tradition of a committee that is set in a fictional universe. This year, the Council of a Song of Ice and Fire set out to resolve the many controversies in the world of Game of Thrones. No Canterbury students participated in this committee.
Overall, the CSMUN’s second year has been a successful one. Delegate Yurou (Sonia) Li ‘21 describes the club as a “suitable platform for me to view the major events in the world from both a objective way and from many subjective perspectives.” She feels that it helps develop skills in “critical thinking, data analysis, and public speaking.”
She adds, “No matter [whether] the representatives are countries, senators or characters from a famous novel, MUNers can all place themselves in new settings, new mindsets, and new roles.”
Leave a Reply