Katherine Ketterer ’21 (left) and Nicolas Iniguez ’20, representing the Republic of the Marshall Islands at the 2018 National Model UN conference in New York City.
Participating in a Model UN conference for the second time was just as, if not more exciting than the first time around. Getting the opportunity to sit inside the United Nations Headquarters during the 2018 National Model UN (NMUN) conference in New York City was probably the most inspiring part of the entire conference. It emphasized the importance of collaboration for all of us who were attending.
During the committee sessions, I was quickly reminded how amazing it is that students are able to create concrete, meaningful solutions to the world’s biggest problems. My delegation partner and I represented the Marshall Islands in a simulation of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The use of chemical weapons on Syrian civilians is one of the biggest problems facing the OPCW and the UN system in general. Having a platform to express our ideas on what we should do in delicate situations was incredibly refreshing and motivating.
Although the days were long, the week went by very fast, and what started off as just a pile of ideas was turned into a resolution! Despite some stressful times, overall, I found that my second conference was even more challenging and rewarding that the first.
— Katherine Ketterer ’21