As the representative from Pakistan, Christa Alexander said she had a great difficulty dealing with the Syrian crisis.
“We were completely against helping Syria in any way. It was really hard to come up with justifications,” Alexander said.
Fortunately for Alexander, a junior at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, she was only participating in a mock security council session at a conference attended by New Hyde Park Memorial’s Model UN Club.
And the challenge she faced in dealing with Syria was part of learning what it is like to be a diplomat.
Students in the Model UN Club say one of the most important lessons learned in competing at Model UN conferences is the need for preparation.
“It makes you passionate about your research,” said junior Lydia Manchury. “It makes your role more passionate because you’re supposed to be a diplomat for this country.”
“In adopting that role, it deepens your understanding,” added senior Natalie Bracco, outgoing vice president of the New Hyde Park Model UN Club.
Bernard Laugen, who has served as Model UN faculty advisor for 10 years, said he sees the change in his students.
“You have to open yourself up to different points of view,” Laugen said, adding that serving as Model UN faculty advisor was the “most rewarding” of his teaching experience in social studies at New Hyde Park Memorial.
The Model UN Club, which has more than 70 students, requires more than just a desire to join.
Students must be recommended by a faculty member to take a year-long course that meets every morning at 7 a.m. Students learn parliamentary procedure and participates in mini-conferences on particular issues. The course culminates in an annual conference with other Sewanhaka district high schools.
Laugen said the students spend four to six months preparing for conferences with the other Sewanhaka district high schools as well as larger conferences against high schools from around the country.
“Just as a sports team practices after school, we prepare before school,” Laugen said.
As game situations require sports teams to adjust their game plans, issues at a Model UN conference can change during a conference.
Senior Michael Lopez, outgoing Model UN president, said playing the roles of diplomats becomes “very personal” and “very emotional.”
Last fall, New Hyde Park’s Model UN team had to adopt different diplomatic roles on the fly at a major conference staged at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They arrived in Boston on the day the nor’easter snowstorm struck in early November. Only 15 of 40 or 50 schools slated to participate in the conference could get there. Instead of canceling the conference, it was revamped with the participating teams receiving new assignments they had to cram to research.
The New Hyde Park team adjusted with a flare, distinguishing itself as top team by winning the best position paper award and Bracco and another Model UN member, Priyanka Sharma, earned recognition as outstanding delegates as well.
“Model UN forces you to examine other countries and see issues the world does not address,” Manchury said. “It definitely makes you think that everything is not as it seems.”
The Model UN experience gives the students a deeper knowledge of foreign affairs as they examine the different news sources on what’s happening around the world, students said.
“You see news and you know what’s happening. But you don’t really understand until you delve into things,” said sophomore Jaclyn Williams. “You have the opportunity to broaden your horizons.”
For some students, the experience changes their lives.
“Through a blind choice to join the club, it changed my outlook on the world,” Lopez said. “Model UN gave me discipline and something I wanted to do for the rest of high school.”
Bracco said she was drawn to Model UN in her sophomore year because of her love of public speaking.
“It was great. It was a bit of a challenge. But I became a better speaker and a better writer,” she said.
Her experience in Model UN also influenced her choice of college studies.
In the fall, Bracco said she’ll be attending Boston University and plans to major in political science or international relations.
The experience of weathering the MIT conference through the blizzard in Boston was a bonding experience for students who had already been working closely together, students said.
Apart from preparing for conferences, the club members also hold fundraisers such as car washes and bake sales to raise money to enable them to travel to conferences outside the school district.
“Model UN is like a family,” Alexander said.
