Second Crescent Model UN Achieves Trifecta Goal
When Crescent School hosted its first Model UN conference in April of 2024, it took a team of students an entire year to plan. This year’s conference planning team set their sights high: they wanted to triple attendance, wow their delegates, and do it all in half the time. Thanks to support from peers and faculty, and building upon the strong foundation they inherited from their predecessors, secretaries-general, William He ’25 and Iliyan Gangani ’25 achieved their goal.
Planning began almost immediately after the April 2024 conference. Their first step was to change the date to earlier in the school year so that the event wouldn’t be overshadowed by well-established Model UN conferences at schools like the University of Toronto, Yale University, and Harvard. The December date meant that they had to work quickly, a challenging prospect when they had to simultaneously learn how to organize an event of this magnitude.
To throw another factor into the mix, they challenged themselves to triple the number of registrants. “Our idea was to fill up the CCL,” says He. They tapped into all their networks, contacting peers at other schools, students they’d debated with before, and friends.
Registration jumped as the date grew closer. “I think we were sitting at around 200 people initially,” says He. One week before the event, “we had to add a separate committee to accommodate the overflow.” They ended up with 300 registrants. “In five days the new team planned an entire committee and executed it flawlessly,” says Gangani.
The team of Crescent student organizers also worked to provide a conference with a more relaxed tone to make learning fun. “We wanted the opening ceremonies to be memorable so we made a movie,” says Gangani. The 8-minute comedy featured students, staff and delegates from Crescent and other schools. They also presented more awards to students, recognizing their efforts and achievements.
The success of Crescent’s second Model UN conference was the result of a huge team effort that included Deputy Secretary-General Simon Rabinovitch (read his reflections about Model UN’s impacts on education and character here). Staff and faculty stayed late, helped with logistics and set up, loaned their offices for storage, and prepped with the boys. “ There were so many teachers who helped. They almost turned into family,” says Gangani. “They care about our success. They care about us as human beings.”
With the conference behind them, He and Gangani have been reflecting on their journey. “Working on the conference made us a lot closer,” says Gangani. “We realized we weren't just friends—we were partners in this massive project and we wanted each other to succeed.”
