High school students working together at the Model UN Conference.
Camryn Reitz, Secretary General for the Ohio State Model United Nations Conference, speaks to students.
Some of the members of Ohio State's Model UN team attending the Ohio State Model UN Conference.
Friday, March 31st marked the first day of the Ohio State Model UN Team’s annual high school conference, OSUMUN. The conference is held once a year in the spring and allows Ohio high school students to gain a more in-depth look at international relations and the UN. Throughout the conference weekend, Ohio State helps students who attend learn skills of collaboration, debate, public speaking, and critical thinking.
Although Covid had initially proved a major barrier in hosting the event, this year proved to be a huge success for the Model UN Team, who received over 150 delegates in attendance. Previous conferences would usually garner a little more than 100 students.
Sophia Exline, a member of the Ohio State Model UN team, took the role of running a historical committee during the conference. High school students took the roles of the KGB and CIA to evaluate and propose solutions to previous historical crises.
When asked to summarize the event, Exline noted “Delegates from different schools are assigned to various committees and the weekend is spent with several sessions which all tackle different topics; this year we had committees about the World Food Program, the South Korean National Assembly, The Indian Epic Mahabharata, Queen Elizabeth I, and the Cold War and more…”
Exline further explained what some of her favorite parts of the conference were, which included the events that took place in her Cold War Crisis Council. After completing the council simulation, delegates from the KGB and CIA were invited to partake in a mock version of the 1960 Olympics, where they could participate in a variety of different activities. She furthered this by exclaiming how creative the delegates were and how well they collaborated with one another.
