After a 5:50 a.m. red-eye flight, BYU’s Model United Nations team lands in Newark International from Salt Lake City for the annual National Model United Nations competition. The team rebuilds each year, so it feels like the first time for students. And this past April, forty-four BYU students spent two full semesters developing the skills of diplomacy, public speaking, research, and policy writing and now have arrived and are ready to get started.
For this year’s NYC National Model United Nations competition, one of the largest and most prestigious of its kind, BYU represented the countries of South Africa and Ecuador. BYU has participated in this conference since the 1980s, making it one of the longest-attending universities, in its nearly seventy-year history on campus of learning about diplomacy, multilateral negotiations, and global affairs.
Throughout the week, each BYU student used the skills taught and drilled in weekly class to work toward becoming leaders in their committees and to develop essential teamwork, communication, and negotiation skills that they will use even after graduation. Each day presented new challenges: obstinate student delegates, unexpected policy ideas, pushback from committee leaders, and more. But through grit, communication, and careful diplomacy, BYU delegates this year provided examples of how to resolve issues within their committees.
Austin Siler, a Japanese major from Arvada, Colorado, reflects that “this experience helped me try to level with other people and come to a mutual agreement, especially after hearing the remarks at the United Nations from the keynote speaker.” Katherine Wilson, an Economics major from Portland, Oregon, feels similarly and reports that she learned important concepts in a professional setting. “Anya (my partner) and I were able to become leaders in our group because of the soft power we demonstrated by being servant-leaders.” She explains that it was eye-opening to see in practice how effective this concept, which she usually only sees in church or spiritual settings, was in a new and professional setting, amidst two thousand college students from around the world. She continues: “This impression hit me especially hard as I held the door for every one of the forty-five delegations that was working on our draft resolution. I think actions like this, among others, cemented my unspoken but apparent leadership role among the group.”
After a packed week, including late nights and long days, the conference ended with the BYU South Africa and Ecuador teams each receiving Outstanding Delegation, the highest award given to a country delegation. Following the conference, each student discussed what they learned in leading delegates on their committee. Abigail Mueller, a Linguistics major from Glen Burnie, Maryland, reflects, “Using and knowing the rules [of procedure] was super helpful. So was listening and encouraging others' ideas to build trust and friendship.” She observes that being generally kind was always a good approach, as well as being confident in her leadership position and being willing to stand out and try new approaches. Áine Mellor, a Psychology major from Austin, Texas, feels similarly. One strategy she found helpful was “literally just talking to everyone. It was a big group, but it paid off.” She adds, “If people were purposefully hostile, I would divert these conversations from the important topics at hand to lighter things like what they are studying or how they are liking NYC.” She observes that being controlling of the paper or working groups was problematic. “Students who did this very quickly became a common annoyance between other delegates or even sometimes an ‘enemy.’” Another delegate, Colby Beckstrand, a Political Science major from Las Vegas, Nevada, found that the most effective approach for him in committee was to try and be friends with everyone. He says, “No need to have enemies. Everyone can win. Allow others to speak and give input. Ask for the opinions of those who are quieter within your group.”
Mauricio Morales, a Political Science major from Bolivia and teaching assistant for the class, explains the difficulty of coming to decisions as a large group. “Do you think that sometimes it is hard to decide where to go and eat with a group of fifteen people? Now imagine doing that with a group of over one hundred people, and every single one has very strong opinions on where to go—that is MUN. And you need to find a way to satisfy everyone because it’s not about food here; it’s about the people these delegates represent.” He adds, “One of the takeaways from this experience is the ability to go back a couple of steps before moving forward. That helped us to stop before a big meltdown and allowed us to rethink our action plan and create a simple and effective way to work and tackle our tasks.”
A unique accomplishment of BYU’s team this year is the selection of Estelle Robbins, a Chinese major from Salt Lake City, Utah, as chair and senior staff for the conference on the United Nations Economic and Social Council. She says, “As a Chair, my approach was to know as much as I possibly can, be comfortable with every aspect of parliamentary procedure, and follow the direction of my directors.”
This year’s team included twenty-one different majors and twenty-three different minors which provided a diversity of backgrounds and skills during the conference both in session and outside. Not only this, but each student—no matter their major—felt that their experience helped benefit them in their professional goals. “Above all, I would say that I gained interpersonal and public speaking skills from my experiences at Model UN,” says Caleb Rogers, Political Science and French Studies major from Gilbert, Arizona—whose father competed with BYU Model UN decades ago. “When so many people are grouped together in a high-pressure setting, with an added time constraint and competing interests, it requires a cool head and strategic approaches to actually accomplish anything. I've learned how to ask the right questions, effectively convey my perspectives and interests, propose concessions and make agreements, and negotiate a good bargain.” He also suggests that because of his experience with Model United Nations, he became more than comfortable with speaking to a large crowd, as well as being persuasive when presenting his ideas.
Emily Whitcomb, a course teaching assistant and graduating senior in Sociology from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, says, “I learned skills of project management in how we split up our resolution paper. In school settings we commonly work in groups of five, maybe six students in group work, but I learned how to delegate and work in a group of thirty plus and manage how we did the work to be effective with our time.”
Outside of the competition, the teaching assistants prepared fun activities for the team throughout the week, such as riding the Staten Island Ferry, visiting the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and going on a scavenger hunt in the Trinity Church. The team also participated in a rooftop professional networking reception, hosted by Brooke Ellis Tay, a former teaching assistant and BYU Political Science and Law School alumna. She has mentored past students who are exploring careers at top law firms and was thrilled to host the students along with alumni in finance, advertising, design, marketing, government, and law. In addition, students met with Kennedy Center alumni Isaac Lamoreaux and Mikayla Chen, a Columbia University graduate student, for a tour and overview of opportunities—including at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)—in social sciences, law, and business.
After awards are given in New York, the program ends, and BYU students head out for spring term or graduation, up to one hundred spaces open up for new students in fall semester. Interested future lawyers, business leaders, diplomats, and policymakers from all disciplines can join by simply registering for IAS 351 (Model United Nations), held each Tuesday from 5–8pm in the Kennedy Center (238 HRCB).
Mauricio Morales says, “MUN allows us to learn how to work and interact with people from different backgrounds from different countries, religions, and points of view, which I personally believe adds great value to individuals. Don’t think twice and just add the class!” Morales created a video showing his perspective preparing for and participating in the event; check out the video on his channel here.