On January 8th and 9th, Meridian students in MUN attended the MUNSA conference held in San Antonio. MUNSA stands for “Model United Nations San Antonio” and it is a two day international diplomacy conference for both high school students and middle school students. It’s held at Trinity University and allows for student delegates to work together and deep dive into real world issues, like human rights, climate change, national security and other various global concerns. These students take on the role of United Nations Representatives and world leaders to practice addressing concerning international matters and navigate complex debates using diplomacy.
Students gathered Thursday evening leaving by bus and staying in a hotel for the night before the conference, the trip an estimated $360 dollars per student due December 8th, with 25 students maximum. Alishia Sharma, a 10th grader who attended the conference shares that it was a fun way to “bond with friends at a “haunted” hotel, which is especially exciting.” and Maximilian Tjiong, another 10th grader at the conference, was interested in MUNSA because of the out-of-town conference, and thought that it was a great way to gain experience.
MUNSA is an amazing way to test students’ adaptability and quick thinking skills. Samanvi Marri, a 10th grader at meridian who attended the conference says that it was important to think on the spot during MUNSA, because “the chairs threw a lot of unexpected obstacles at us,” which allows for communication with other delegates, Alishia also says how MUNSA allowed her to improve her communication skills from having to form blocks with others to come to a conclusion.
Students had several topics they had to deal with, some being the US and Russia trying to Liberate a China-Occupied Kazakhstan. Or the limiting of CO2 in the air, helping refugees, how to combat wildfires, the preservation of wildlife and plants, stopping cult leaders, AI in the workplace and its effect on education, country sanctions and viruses. With all these topics, they were separated into different groups, some groups were the GA Plenary, one of the largest UN conferences with more than 100 delegates, which Alishia was sorted into. Crisis 1 which focused on meteor showers and how to combat their wildfires which Maximilian dealt with. Samanvi chose Nuclear Crisis 1 with the US and Russia against China and Kazakhstan. And Ahladita Bajaj a 10th grader at Meridian was sorted into a group which dealt with the AI crisis and its overtaking of the world.
While the topics were ranging from state to international, and very severe, there was one aspect of MUNSA’s conference that many students enjoyed, called “Fun Mun”. Samanvi shared how “The entire debate descends to chaos” going over topics of mobilizing the Avengers, Summoning K-pop Demon hunters, “attempted resurrection of the Queen of England, Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK running away with Xi Jinping” and many more. Other exciting ventures were touring the local area on the night of the 8th, visiting the Rain forest cafe, and going on the River Walk. Other students, for example Max and Alishia say that their favorite experience was getting to meet and talk with other delegates.
Overall MUNSA was an exciting and engaging way for students to learn and communicate with their peers while dealing with stressful topics with unexpected curveballs thrown at them, all while allowing students the time to relax, explore, and have fun.
