Humanity. Hardship. Healing.
The three words that established the tone for MUNUM XXXVI. As the conference’s first in-person opening ceremony since 2020, the MUNUM Secretariat was tasked with the important mission of welcoming 750 delegates and their advisors. Although Vice President Kamala Harris did not make a surprise appearance, MUNUM XXXVI’s opening ceremony was definitely historic. The University of Michigan’s annual Model United Nations conference began with a bang this evening, introducing delegates to the committees included and the lovely people staffing them. However, this wasn’t portrayed in the typical format–instead, MUNUM staff participated in a spoof of the hit T.V. show The Office. This included the iconic soundtrack over images of staff members falling on the floor, making animated gestures, and even performing CPR on each other in the case of IPC staffers. Overall, a comedic entrance created a sense of relatability, community, and lightheartedness.
Secretary General Mark Johnson introduced the conference’s theme of “Humanity, Hardship, and Healing,” in the hope that delegates and staff would use the conference as an opportunity to lend a, “critical eye towards our past,” and, “practice empathy,” when discussing both current issues like food climate change and historical topics dating back to the Persian-Greco Wars. Next, Johnson, who has participated in Model United Nations for eight years, shared his experiences working alongside the 12 other Secretariat members in putting a conference of such a grand scale together. Johnson, likely amongst a myriad of delegates participating in this weekend’s conference, is a firm believer in the power of Model UN, particularly due to how many minds the activity can bring together. MUN is a vessel for discovery and growth, perfectly emulated in MUNUM XXXVI’s conference theme this year.
MUNUM is finally back in-person, after 3 years of hardship. As a whole, it represents overcoming adversity, with both theme and preparation.
This year’s conference theme tied beautifully into Emma Swailes's speech about United World Schools: an organization which helps give children of remote villages access to a free education in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Nepal. UWS has partnered with 270 schools, helped 49,000 students, and is looking to continue its work with the University of Michigan. Their goal, “reach the unreached,” is so powerful and something all of us are happy to support as a conference, especially proceeding this exhilarating speech. After succeeding their goal with their partner school in Gufa, Nepal, which has since been converted to working with local governance, the conference aims to help another school in Orang, Nepal to reach the same goal. The conference hopes to raise $4400 for its new partner school through a combination of candy grams, merchandise, and partnerships with the local restaurants Pokē Pokē, Panera Bread, and Pizza House. Taking a glance within the Delegate Handbook, we can see multiple types of candygrams being sold: Type A candygrams include a message with a fun sized candy ($1.00) while type B includes this with a replacement of a regular sized candy ($3.00). Type C includes a message read by Secretary of Finance Justin Esdale and his yo-yo ($6.00). Finally, type D is a message read by Secretary General Mark Johnson and his recorder, which also includes a regular-sized candy bar. Reverting back to the donation possibilities, the available restaurants on January 14th are: Pizza House (5:00-7:30p.m), Poke Poke (4:00-8:00p.m), and Panera Bread. For Panera you must show the fundraiser flyer (hardcopy or digitally), while for Poke Poke you must mention “MUNUM Fundraiser” while ordering.
The Secretariat members proceeded into further details of the conference, mentioning the fourteen diverse committees at MUNUM 36 and The Working Paper from the IPC Committee being on the official MUNUM website. Lastingly, they commented on receiving feedback from the Chairs in Committees and heading to Room 6 of the League and informing the Dias on the case of lost credentials. Finally, they chanted “Welcome and Go Blue!” and banged their gavels in unison before dismissing the Opening Ceremony.
Following the ceremonies several conference attendees shared their thoughts with reporters. Liv Serio, a senior participating in the Persian-Greco Wars Crisis Committee discussed her experience at MUNUM over the past four years saying, “MUNUM has been the highlight of my Model UN career and one of the best experiences of all of high school.” Further, Advisor Ashleigh Dubie described attending MUNUM for the first time as, “both confusing and exhilarating.” No matter if it was someone’s first or final MUNUM it was clear that there was much excitement for the weekend ahead.
A cartoon created by IPC Delegate Maco Jeleniewski from Carl Sandburg High School.