January 18, 2024 7:37 pm
• Last Updated: January 18, 2024 7:37 pm
Waterford ― About 40 students from a high school club traveled Thursday to Yale’s Model United Nations conference.
The 50th annual conference organized by Yale University offers those who attended the chance to discuss pressing global issues with nearly 2,000 other Model UN students from around the world.
Seniors Jay Zimmermann, Suhana Sharma, Maple Siu and Alistair Haglund spoke Wednesday about the unique opportunity the Yale conference provides for the Waterford Model United Nations Club.
As of Wednesday, Haglund said the Yale conference is a lot of fun because it allows the students the opportunity to leave school and meet kids from all over the world.
“And I think that’s why everyone looks forward to YMUN so much, because we get to meet a lot of new, interesting and cool people while doing something we enjoy,” he added.
Suhana, added that students who attend the conference always walk away with new friends.
“If you speak to like, any delegate who went to Yale last year, they can probably tell you like one or two people who they’ve stayed in contact with or were really close to the conference,” she said.
Siu said the Yale conference also reinforces the camaraderie the members already feel as a small school participating a big conference.
Ian Cheney, the club’s adviser and a teacher of government and history at the high school, agreed with Siu, adding that most of the schools participating at the Yale conference are private schools. Waterford often competing against schools that have Model UN classes, not clubs, which offer students far more experience.
“I think we hold our own. Last year we took home three awards, it was our highest number ever. And so there’s a lot of sense of pride that comes with going in together,” he said.
This will be Cheney’s 12th time attending the conference adding he’s never had “more prepared and hardworking officers” as he does now.
The club meets once a week and discusses current events or world issues such as human trafficking and ethnic cleansing.
Zimmermann, Sharma, Siu and Haglund, prepare a summary of the topic the students need to research and how…
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