During the first and second trimesters of the year, the Model United Nations course meets on Sunday evenings in a seminar-style setting. Students take on the roles of foreign diplomats in preparation for participation in a simulated session of the United Nations. Students research countries’ political and economic systems and social and cultural fabric and write position papers on related issues.

The course also focuses on the history of the United Nations, as well as the current role it plays in the global system of governance. The culmination of the course is participation at the Harvard National Model United Nations (HMUN) in Cambridge, where students role-play diplomats of specific countries.

HMUN has been offering students this unique opportunity since 1953. This year's conference will be held from Thursday through Sunday, January 28 - 31 at the Sheraton Boston, with some sessions held at Harvard University. Over 2,500 high school delegates from around the globe attend the simulation, where they are immersed in the world of international diplomacy acting as delegates, diplomats, and ministers. More than 170 Harvard undergraduates create an environment that allows high school students to debate critical global issues, grapple with complex crises, and produce imaginative resolutions in forums ranging from the United Nations General Assembly to the birth of the UN itself.

In preparation for the conference, the 20 WMA delegates visited the UN in early December. See pictures here. The students and their advisor Gary Cook also held a bake sale to supplement their budget from the Academy.

The two groups of WMA delegates are representing Turkmenistan and Monaco. Several of the students hold positions on committees and serve as historical personalities. Wooyoung Ryan Choi ’11 is representing Monaco on the Economic and Financial Committee, which is considering both the economic impact of globalization on the developing world and the harm done to the environment by global companies.

Michaela Rollings ’10 and Carey Shetterley ’11 are representing Turkmenistan on the Special Political and Decolonization Committee. Those students are wrestling with maritime piracy and seeking viable solutions to the conflict between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian state.

Sommer Mahoney ’11 has a very exciting position. She is the Ambassador of Trebizond to the Emperor Constantine's Imperial Cabinet of 1452. The committee members will discuss whether or not the Emperor of Byzantium should ally himself with the Roman Catholic Church in the face of the Ottoman threat. This crisis committee is one of a handful of small selective committees requiring a separate application.

Jeannette Viens ’11 is a member of another special committee, Le Congres Provincial du Quebec, 2016. The committee, which is smaller and more focused than the General Assembly committees, will debate the question of Quebec's succession from Canada to become its own nation. Jeannette says, “In the committee, I am representing Phil Fontaine, ex Chief of First Nations in Canada and Aboriginal Ambassador. In committee sessions, I will be pushing for whichever resolution works best for my peoples, the Indians/Aboriginals of Canada, especially those living within the Quebec region, which are at this time pushing for Quebec to remain a part of Canada. To take things up a notch so to speak, the committee is actually set seven years in the future, in the year 2016. The Harvard students in charge of this committee have given us the history of what has happened within Canada and other areas of the world in these next seven years.”