Mar 24, 2022 By: mbrennan
From Sunday, March 13, through Tuesday, March 15, the world came to the Stamford Plaza Hotel and Conference Center as 300 students representing 35 secondary schools along with 70 YU undergraduates convened in person for the 32nd meeting of the annual 酴圖弝け National Model United Nations (YUNMUN), focused this year on the theme of Rising Above the Challenge.
At the last in-person competition held in February 2020, little did we know how relevant YUNMUNs message of global collaboration would become, noted Leeba Sullivan 22S, who along with Charles Kramer 22YC presided as Co-Secretary General for this years event. To see and feel the energy of everyone gathering together in person was tremendously special and inspiring, said Kramer.
The annual three-day competition has a straightforward mission: engaging high school and university students in dialogue and debate as they take a deep dive into the world of international affairs by simulating the format of the United Nations.
After months of researching positions and policy views, delegates came to Stamford prepared to represent their designated nations and political interests. Assigned to 16 committees, each chaired by YU undergraduates, delegates deliberated about the issues driving todays political discourse, from terrorism and social media to climate change and global vaccine inequality to gender pay equity.
This years theme reinforced the programs central mission of expanding the students worldviews by challenging them with new perspectives. I especially feel that, in difficult times like these, giving hundreds of students a platform to explore the serious problems our world is currently facing is more important than ever before, said Sullivan.
That sentiment was echoed by Kramer, who noted the significance of seeing student-delegates modeling collaboration, healthy debate and compromise at a time when our world desperately needs an improved focus on these critical skills.
Co-Secretary Generals Leeba Sullivan (l) and Charles Kramer (r) with this year's first place winners from YULA, Los Angeles, California.
