Pascack Valley Junior Nupur Karnik found that the Model UN conference that PV’s team participated in on Monday, March 7, and Tuesday, March 8 at Saint Peter’s University was a fun experience, allowing her to connect and meet different types of people. 

“We’re all just trying to solve a problem,” Karnik said. “You’re just trying to work together. And ultimately, that’s what I liked about it.”

In Model UN, each school is assigned different countries to represent. In that group, students are assigned a committee, for instance, the economic, social, and cultural organization. 

“[Model UN] replicates the United Nations,” PV History Teacher Connor Quinlan said. “The whole idea is that each committee whether it’s the Security Council or the development committee, they’re all presented with two issues that over the course of two days have to come up with resolutions.”

Students write a paper before the conference, explaining their stance on the issue assigned to them. Submission of this paper qualifies students for awards such as best delegate, best position paper, or most improved. 

“Over the course two days, [the students] really have fun experiences like imagining global issues from new perspectives,” Quinlan said. 

Quinlan said he thinks more students are taking notice of international diplomacy and global events which will hopefully lead to more student involvement in Model UN.

“The students that I typically see that are interested in and continue to join and participate in Model UN are more socially aware students that pay attention to current events, and I think it attracts students that have that kind of global perspective,” Quinlan said. 

Karnik said that although the conference is a little more serious than a normal school environment, students still have a lot of fun. 

“It’s hard to explain to [freshmen and sophmores]  how the day unfolds,” Quinlan said. “And I think once the event starts, they kind of realize how fun it can be and you know, they work, have lunches, and make friends with [different students in the conference].”

Karnik said that the Model UN conference during the pandemic had a really weird atmosphere, due to the fact that students were not able to collaborate in the same way. 

“Throughout the conference, you’re trying to pass notes and work with other countries and you can kind of do that on the side. But when you’re virtual you can’t interrupt when someone’s speaking, but I was really happy to be back this year,” Karnik said.