decreased. Solebury School ultimately headed to the WAMUNC conference at the end of March with a group of six delegates: Afrah Boateng ’16, Leah Hunt ’16, Alexandra Morrow ’16, Arabella Taucher ’17, Ben Roxey ’18 and Victor Yu ’18. “It’s amazing, noble in fact, that these kids followed through considering the amount of work on their plates,” said Helen. “For example, Leah’s position paper for her Iranian committee – she put so much work into it, it was flawless. She became that delegate.” After the first day of the conference, our delegates were energized and excited. “This being our first rodeo and with a small group, we approached WAMUNC as a fact-finding mission; we were there to absorb,” Helen said. “But our students amazed us with how they assimilated immediately.” Students kept up with the conference’s long hours, often collaborating into the night. International crises do not always limit themselves to meeting hours during conferences – as Arabella learned when she woken to triage a crisis and had to present at midnight. (She was excused from her early morning committee the next day.) It proved to be an exhausting four days but a hugely rewarding, cooperative learning experience. One decidedly “Solebury” moment? When Ben Roxey marveled to Helen and Don that some delegates seemed only to want to “win” and get people to agree with them, rather than to actually resolve the conflict at hand. “You definitely had to learn to work with all different types of people. It was intense, because you also had to speak in front of a large audience. There were maybe 150 people in my room,” Ben told us. “There’s a difference between gaining support and being the loudest voice in the room. Our kids understood that,” said Don. In between sessions, students got to sit in on lectures from international relations professionals. Our group also managed to squeeze in a six-mile walk of the National Mall and its monuments, complete with cherry blossoms at their peak.
Top: From left, Leah Hunt ’16, Afrah Boateng ’16 and Alexandra Morrow ’16 taking in D.C. between sessions. Bottom: From left, Model UN advisor Don Kaplan, Ben Roxey ’18, speaker Dr. Celia Realuyo and Victor Yu ’18. Dr. Realuyo is a professor and former U.S. diplomat; she gave a lecture on ISIL during the conference.
One decidedly “Solebury” moment? When Ben Roxey ’18 marveled that some delegates seemed only to want to “win” and get people to agree with them, rather than to actually resolve the conflict at hand. This year, Solebury School’s Model UN Club will focus on building skills and membership by participating in local day conferences, such as the Bucks County Intergenerational Model UN in April 2017.
Arabella Taucher ’17 speaks to her small crisis committee.
For Model UN updates and to view more photos from their time in Washington, D.C., visit www.facebook.com/SoleburySchoolModelUN.
Special thanks to Solebury School’s Home & School Association for helping to fund the trip to WAMUNC.
Summer / Fall 2016
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