CIMUN

On February 2nd, the Mentor Model UN team departed onto a bus in the early morning, off to Chicago. After a six-hour-long ride, the MUN team arrived at the Chicago International Model United Nations conference, or CIMUN. The Mentor MUN team goes to this event each year to compete against some of the best Model UN students from the United States and around the world.

At the conference, CIMUN featured many of the typical committees and cabinets; however, this year they had a special event – the House of Commons. In the House of Commons, delegates were assigned a member and would have to portray this politician throughout the entire conference. Another twist to the annual conference is that there are always two timelines – one timeline was the present day and the other was 1982 during the midst of the Cold War.

During this conference, delegates went to committee sessions and handled issues ranging from Chinese spy balloons, the minimum wage, and much more. However, by the end of the conference, things started to become crazy! With the growing discontent of the members of the House of Commons with Margaret Thatcher, the House of Commons threw her out! On the last day, time travel was magically invented, letting both timelines convene with each other .

Other than the conference and the committee sessions, delegates were also able to explore the “Windy City” of Chicago by seeing sights such as the infamous Bean and the Hancock building, where they went up many stories to oversee the city.

Overall, delegates had an amazing time in Chicago with Model UN Treasurer

“CIMUN is such a unique experience that I enjoy every year,” says Mentor MUN Treasurer Zach Payne. “I see all the effort put into this conference and appreciate it as a delegate.”

At the conference, the team had one of its best-ever showings in the awards department, earning the following awards: Best Delegate: Andrew Freeman, Loren Wandersleben, Isabel Quinones | Outstanding Delegate: West Matthews | Press Communication Award: Deánna Harville |

Delegates are excited about next year’s trip to CIMUN!

CLEIMUN

After a day of school, most students go home, relax, or go to a sport. But on Wednesday, February 15, the Model UN team went to St. Edward High School to debate the issues of the world at the Cleveland International Model U.N. conference, or CLEIMUN. Among the issues discussed were fishing rights, minimum wages, national sovereignty, and much more.

In Model UN, students are assigned a country which they will portray at the conference as delegates. After being assigned a country, the delegate will then be assigned a committee. Committees are organizations that are focused on a category. Examples of committees are Human Rights Commission, Security Council, World Health Organization, and others. When assigned to a committee and a country, the delegate will receive a list of topics that they will have to research their country’s stance on for debate.

On the first day of the conference, delegates come in with already prepared resolutions. With these prepared resolutions, delegates will then use a European style of the conference where they will lobby for their resolutions and either receive enough signatories or merge their papers. At this year’s conference, delegates submitted a record number of solutions, with many of those being from Mentor students. After lobbying for a few hours, delegates are dismissed for the day.

You might have thought we were just done with lobbying, but nope – another day proceeds! In the early mornings of Thursday, delegates again hopped on a bus towards St. Edwards for the next day of CLEIMUN. On Thursday, all of the resolutions presented the previous day were approved by the panel; this means that delegates were able to debate all resolutions for their respective committee. On this day the delegates still followed the European style, so there was no moderated caucus. Resolutions were passed and struck, but at the end of the day, the United Nations was, as always, productive.

On the last day, Mentor MUN students were again at St. Edwards debating. At the beginning of this conference, delegates went back to the committee rooms to further discuss resolutions. Until around 9:30 a.m., delegates worked diligently on their resolutions by debating, merging, and voting. However, at 9:30 a.m. a crisis emerged, leaving the world in shambles! Well, mainly the U.S. was in shambles.

Across the U.S., power grids went out, leaving many cities within the nation without power. Delegates ran to the main room ready to resolve this issue. Delegates were separated by their countries, not committees now. Each country was tasked with solving this issue with each other. Debates and arguments ensued about the crisis. Some of these arguments included: How will we get the power grids back up? How will this affect other countries? Who shut down the power grids? What should the General Assembly do next to ensure the safety of citizens? Much argument took place on what would be the best course of action.

During the crisis, the General Assembly saw many events take place. One significant moment the stealing of a portrait of Xi-Jin Ping from the Chinese delegates. The culprits were then found, that being Germany. The beloved portrait of Xi-Jin Ping was safely given back to China, although Germany was not reprimanded.

Eventually, it was revealed that the power grids happened due to a radical environmentalist group. Shortly after that was revealed, a representative from such a radical environmentalist group came rushing into the conference asking for demands. The General Assembly did not succumb to these demands as many countries do not and will not support terrorists.

At the end of the day after the simulation was completed, multiple Mentor students won awards! Many Mentor delegates came home feeling accomplished, once again saving the world of Model UN.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at CLEIMUN,” said a Mentor delegate representing Australia, Charlie Partlow. “I believe it enhanced my ability at debating and much more. I’m very excited to see what St. Edward will have in store for us next year.”

“I definitely learned a lot from this conference,” said China delegate Zach Payne. “I had never before experienced the European style of debate so this was a huge change for me!”

Many of the delegates also won awards at this conference, and for the third time Mentor won Best Delegation! Delegates won the following awards: Honorable Mention: Sarah Blakemore, West Matthews, Zach Payne | Best Delegate: Andrew Freeman, Isabel Quinones, Daniel Lavrich | Best Delegation: China | Honorable Mention Delegation: Germany |

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