For many years, the Model United Nations club at Eastern was barely even a thought to most students. But it actually has a terrific history of success, with numerous best delegation wins at collegiate conferences. And now that it’s open to all students, the Model UN team has not only expanded, but thrived.

   Model United Nations is essentially a simulation of a United Nations department or international organizations like the European Union. It follows all United Nations procedures (also known as parliamentary procedure), where delegates suggest moderated caucuses (a moderated debate on a specific issue) or unmoderated caucuses (delegates can freely roam the room to understand the positions of other delegates and form blocs, which are large groups of countries with similar positions that aim to solve the committee’s problem in a beneficial way) to tackle their committee’s main issue, which can range from the financial crisis of 2008 to  The main goal of each committee is to write a resolution paper (through the blocs mentioned earlier) to solve the issue at hand, although a crisis will be thrown in to shake up country positions. 

   If a delegate does especially well, they’ll win an award at the end of the conference. The awards range from Best Position Paper (a position paper outlines your country’s position, as well as offering a solution to the committee’s topic) to Best Novice (the best-performing delegate who has attended no more than 2 conferences) to Honorable Mention (normally one or two delegates who performed well, but not at a Best Delegate level), with the most coveted award being Best Delegate. 

   The Eastern Model United Nations team attended two conferences in February, run by Moorestown High School and Clearview Regional High School. The Moorestown conference, held on February 5, was remote, which provides specific challenges to the delegates, as it’s far different from a normal in-person conference. 

 Team captain Kartik Vijayapuri describes them as a new experience. “I’m sure many delegates actually found remote easier, as it took a lot of stress away from speaking. However, in terms of technical issues and such, we learned to stay patient and had good training which helped us seamlessly transfer from in person conferences to remote and back to in person. If anything, remote conferences were a time to hone our MUN skills to do really well as we switch back to in person.”

   The team enjoyed much success despite the challenges of a remote conference, as six delegates would come home with awards, three of them winning the Best Delegate gavel – team co-captain Kartik Vijayapuri, and siblings Ajay and Anita Raj. Their performance through such a tough format should be commended, and 

   Their next conference would be at Clearview on February 26, with a return to the normal in-person conference schedule. The smaller Eastern delegation again shined, as four students would win awards, two for Best Position Paper (senior Ethan Levy and freshman Jack Bracchi) and two for Best Delegate (sophomore Ajay Raj and junior Anita Raj). 

   The final conference of the year will be held at Haddonfield Memorial High School on March 26. It’ll be the final conference for long-time delegates like Vijayapuri. “I’ll miss the tight knit team we developed as well as the community as a whole. The weekly meetings, team bus rides, and friendships made the MUN atmosphere not only educational but also fun.” 

   The Model United Nations team has continued to be successful year after year, and February was no different for them. Here’s hoping they can continue their tremendous success at the Haddonfield conference, and that the seniors can go out with a bang.