From January 19th to 21st, the Loomis Model United Nation (MUN) team participated in the Yale MUN conference and won the Outstanding Large Delegation (the equivalent of 2nd place).

In MUN, students discuss important current issues through a simulation of the United Nation that involves preparation, in-conference debate, caucus, and resolution-writing. Participants are divided into various committees. Given two topics ahead of time, each student serves as the delegate of a country and writes a position paper, stating their country’s stance before the conference. For example, the topics for World Health Organization (WHO) for this year was The Rise of Childhood Obesity and Ebola Virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Loomis attends the Yale Model UN conference, and the Boston Invitational MUN every year. During the Thanksgiving Break in 2013, 2015, and 2017, a group of students went to Yale Model Government Europe (YMGE) in Budapest, Hungary.

Ms. Engelke proudly announces that Loomis MUN “also won Outstanding Delegation at YMGE last year. Aside from the large full group awards, we also have many students who’ve received individual recognition over the years.”

Victoria Che ’21, a first year participants of YMUN  represented the United Kingdom and won the Outstanding Delegate in Commission on Science & Technology for Development. As an introverted person, Victoria thanks MUN for encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone. In the committee sessions, delegates have to to make allies with students they’ve never met before, developing skills of compromise and communication.

Lucy Shao ’19 is a head delegate and represented Bangladesh in ASEAN 2080. She thinks the futuristic committee was set up very creative. She said, “MUN helps students to think on our feet and solve real-world crises.”

Lucy has been a part of the Loomis MUN team for many years and she feels that the MUN team is a family. “There is a sense of mentorship, collaboration, and tradition that are passed down from senior delegates to younger ones. As one of the head delegates this year, we really tried our best to help out our team members so they have the most enjoyable experience at the conference,” shared Lucy.

Lucy thinks that MUN “strikes a balance between competition and collaboration” and is delighted that she has joined MUN because the team has “such a great team energy and it makes [her] happy to be around delegates who are very friendly and motivated to learn more about the world and themselves.”

This year at Yale: OUTSTANDING LARGE DELEGATION (2nd place), and six individual award winners. Here are their names and the committees/roles:

Liam Scott ’19: OUTSTANDING DELEGATE in Press Corps/UN News Reporter

Lucy Shao ’19: OUTSTANDING DELEGATE in ASEAN 2080 (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)/Bangladesh

Alice Chen ’20: OUTSTANDING DELEGATE  in SOCHUM (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee)/United Kingdom

Margarita Demkina ’20: OUTSTANDING DELEGATE in BRICS Development Bank/as Vladimir Putin, President of Russia

Victoria Che ’21: OUTSTANDING DELEGATE in CSTD (Commission on Science & Technology for Development)/United Kingdom

Minna Gao ’19: HONORABLE MENTION in President Carter’s War Room/as Clifford Alexander, Jr., Secretary of the Army