By: Bailey Spitz (11th Grade)
From what I've heard, the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations (better known as YUNMUN) trip is extremely fun. Usually, students travel to Connecticut for a three day conference, but this year, my first year as one of the delegates, things were quite different. Last Sunday, I "attended" my first YUNMUN conference, and the experience was no way like what I expected.
At 11:00 AM, over 200 delegates attended the opening ceremony Zoom, then began the real fun: committee meetings. This year, our school represented Egypt and I served in the Middle Eastern Summit Committee. Our topic was on the influence of Sharia in the Middle East.
Having to follow the Model UN code of conduct over Zoom was really strange. In order to speak, you have to add yourself to the speaker's list by messaging one of the committee chairs. In person, this probably is not super weird, but virtually it was really bizarre.
The hardest part of having a virtual YUNMUN for me was having to use the Zoom chat to communicate with the other delegates. I accidentally sent messages to the wrong countries more than one time. According to the rules, you are not allowed to text other delegates, so Zoom was our only form of communication.
Throughout the twelve hour conference, I attended four committee sessions, wrote, voted on, and passed a resolution, met new people, and participated in multiple ice breakers. Overall, I had a good time, but I was exhausted by the time it was done. Next year, I hope to participate in YUNMUN again, but hopefully in person.