MUNUM hosts 38th Conference for high school delegates 

Over the weekend, Model United Nations at the University of Michigan welcomed over 800 high school students for their MUNUM XXXVIII conference. The conference spanned four days — commencing with an opening ceremony on Thursday, followed by three days of committee sessions filled with debate and concluding on Sunday afternoon with a closing ceremony. MUNUM XXXVIII consisted of 18 unique committees led by the organization’s 120 staffers. The committees were composed of three types: General Assembly, which emulates the actual organs and procedures of the United Nations, Crisis Communities, which are committees that mimic smaller organizations at  points in history and Specialized Committees, a combination of the two aforementioned committees.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA Junior Lauren Sprow, MUNUM’s Secretary-General, said the conference serves as a culmination of the staffers’ hard work over the past year. 

“I participated in MUNUM for all four years as a high school student and am now in my third year staffing it and my first as Secretary-General,” Sprow said. “It has been incredibly rewarding to see everything we’ve been doing all year to prepare for the conference finally fall into place as it gets nearer.”

Sprow told The Daily she was excited for this year’s variety of debate topics, which were proposed and selected by the committee directors.  

“Each and every committee is so interesting, and the topics for committees are selected by our directors, so everyone is incredibly passionate and excited to begin facilitating four days of debate,” Sprow said. 

The conference consisted of committees including the Economic and Social Council, Universal Music Group and the Bubonic Plague in which delegates represented different countries and key figures relevant to the discussion topics. 

One of the committees in this year’s conference was the Federation Internationale de Football Association, in which delegates debated human rights violations in potential host countries for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

LSA sophomore Tiago Rogano, the committee’s co-director, told The Daily the FIFA committee allowed for debate that integrated the topic of soccer with a greater discussion of global politics. 

“ I think something really nice with this committee is that it shows that politics and change are present in anything around the world today,” Rogano said. “Seeing (delegates) collaborate basically on everything from the small details like approving a bid to the huge scale human rights issues in these events was really nice.”

LSA sophomore Anabella Godfrey, FIFA co-director, told The Daily she was impressed with the diverse perspectives of the high school delegates and their ability to collaborate and perform well in the conference.

“ We had a really fair variety of delegates who either had a good knowledge about soccer or didn’t, but they all really showed their best,” Godfrey said. “I think they did a wonderful job. They took our topic seriously to pass great resolutions.”

Rogano told The Daily that this year’s conference was rewarding in demonstrating how Model UN provides students with a platform to debate important global issues in an immersive and exciting manner. 

“It’s always nice to note how MUNUM is able to turn serious debates into things where people have fun, especially for high schoolers,” Rogano said. “ It’s nice to see how the balance is between how much we put into it and how much they make out of it. It really does pay off.”

Daily Staff Reporter Tenzin Menrinetsang can be reached at tenzinm@umich.edu.

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