Participating in the 2017 National Model UN conference was a great opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds and worldviews. Model UN is a simulation that tests your ability to communicate, negotiate, and to set your role as an individual in a group. It allowed me to be a part of a large group setting with conflicting views, and taught me not only to overcome conflicts through alliance and negotiation – but also to make sure that those who are underrepresented as a result of the group’s power dynamic become equally represented. In less than a week, I discovered new things about myself and my preferred career path.

The foremost thing I gained from my experience representing Iraq in the simulation at the UN was renewing my interest in taking new challenges. These included challenges to work with people I had never met before, challenges to step up and question the group’s power dynamic, and challenges to be open to change, compromise and diplomacy.

— Alanoud Alammar ’18