EagleMUNC, an organization of more than 100 Boston College undergraduates who plan and run a Model United Nations (MUN) Conference for high school students, broke its own record this year when its annual gathering hosted more than 650 students from around the world.
What began as a one-day meeting in Gasson Hall four years ago is now a three-day event at the Westin Copley Place Hotel, where the delegates serve on various committees. EagleMUNC was named the “Most Innovative” conference by Best Delegate, a website that ranks MUN teams across the country.
The March 2016 conference, which had “Liberty and Security” as its theme, included a keynote speech from astronaut Bill Shepherd, a Navy SEAL and the commander of the first mission to the International Space Station.
“EagleMUNC was created with the idea that MUN could be a more innovative experience for the delegates,” says Billy Fitzsimmons ’16 who, as secretary-general, is in charge of the club [eaglemunc.org]. “We believed that most Model United Nations conferences at other universities offered the same types of committees, but we dared to be different.”
Among the innovations was a 40-hour simulation in which the delegates are suddenly confronted with intense geopolitical situations that put them “in the shoes of high-level decision-makers,” Fitzsimmons explains. Many of the MUNC committees held “Midnight Crises Events,” such as the possibility of a war involving three members, the discovery of a “spy” (secretly a BC student posing as a delegate), and last-minute complications in the opening of a Disney theme park in Shanghai.
“We inform the advisors of Midnight Crises Events before the conference,” says Fitzsimmons, “but like to keep it a surprise for the delegates.”
Suzanne Larson, library media specialist at Seekonk High School in Massachusetts, says her students relish the chance to meet peers from around the world while they seek “to solve real-world problems, grapple with issues that face our world, and work together to accomplish more than any one individual could achieve alone. Model UN provides a training ground to teach students to think flexibly, collaborate and find solutions.”
The Midnight Crises Events are a particular favorite, Larson adds, because they “provide fun, sometimes silly twists on the politics that [the students] are working on in the committee.”
Seekonk juniors Brittney Keeley and AudreyRose Wooden speak glowingly of MUNC. “EagleMUNC gives us an opportunity to have serious conversations with people and partake in an educated and factual debate and still have fun,” says Keeley.
Adds Wooden, “You truly have a completely immersive experience, all thanks to the amazing EagleMUNC team that cares about every single delegate no matter how many of us there are. It lets us know that, despite how the media portrays our generation, we’re in good hands.”
The Seekonk delegates’ praise underscores EagleMUNC’s mission to promote education, leadership and innovative thinking. “In this day and age, it is important for everyone, especially high school students, to develop an awareness and appreciation of the greater world,” says Amelie Trieu ’18, head of the EagleMUNC External Affairs Department. “Model United Nations teaches students about important issues, and by extension, encourages them to become global citizens.”
By Siobhan Sullivan | News and Public Affairs