How Model UN Impacts Education and Character
You’d be shocked by how a shy boy, who got up on stage for the very first time in Grade 3, can now confidently address a conference of 350 people.
The Crescent School Model United Nations (CSMUN) Team has sparked passionate interest in politics, global affairs, diplomacy, and debate for over 20 years. We hold weekly team meetings and have a roster of over 80 students, mostly from the Upper School but with keen interest from those in the Middle School. We engage in conferences across North America and represent nations and world leaders from across the globe and throughout history. We have competed in conferences hosted by Harvard, McGill, UofT, and Georgetown along with local conferences hosted by peer schools. Crescent’s Model UN conference is in its second year and will welcome 250 delegates to campus in December.
The skills we learn at Model UN have a positive impact on academics. Students become better writers, effective communicators and influential collaborators. Through writing position papers on a variety of topics, students learn to research and analyze data for key information. My peers and I produce detailed reports which in turn has benefited our essays and tests at school.
By giving formal and impromptu speeches, team members become powerful communicators who are able to speak and debate facts, policies, and ideas. Learning how to effectively form inspiring, content-rich, and concise speeches leads to better academic presentations, class discussions, and debates. The speeches that my peers and I produce also show personality and humour, making Model UN fun. Getting to collaborate with other delegates, sometimes from around the world, to complete draft UN resolutions and directives, we get to negotiate, compromise, and collaborate. This helps students work with peers on group work.
The impact of Model UN on our character is even more profound. We develop positive leadership from a tradition of mentorship, where the senior boys guide younger brothers. I am grateful that I have been and continue to be mentored by alumni and senior members of our team. Now, my friends and I get to mentor our brothers from Middle School. We look forward to meeting every week because we can have fun while tackling the day’s challenges. We prepare for conferences together and celebrate each other's accomplishments. This positive experience attracts more students to our growing program.
Model UN makes us engaged citizens. By exploring a country or a person's views on a topic, we develop diverse perspectives and find solutions to tackle problems. During conferences, the team has also been inspired by many places and experiences like visiting the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.S. Capitol Building, and Remembrance Day at the Montreal Cenotaph.
Model UN has been such an important and beneficial part of my friends and my life, and our education. It has formed an unbreakable bond. I remember how excited I was when my friends won at my first conference and I’ll never forget the reaction of our team when that was reciprocated when another friend and I won for the first time. They were elated. I will also never forget one alumnus in particular, a great friend who had mentored me and was working at this conference, who congratulated me. Passion guides our team, led by our student executive.
Our shared experiences have made us men with solutions, yet above all it has helped us become leaders with character striving for a better world.
