UPMUNC: A Dual Perspective
MADDIE, a GA delegate:
In our final conference of the semester, our team took on UPMUNC 53, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Our team debated a variety of topics from the Sri Lankan Civil War, to the increasing communication in developing countries, to a Series of Unfortunate Events (shout-out to our Head Delegate Piper Womelsdorf for turning it into a Series of Fortunate Events and winning a Verbal Commendation).
Training can only bring you so far, as I in particular learned competing in the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM). As an avid crisis delegate, nothing can come close to watching an arc come to fruition, but a close second might be finally understanding bloc politics after a weekend of power struggles and merging. Other GA delegates, namely Kathleen Fink and Emily Needham, were very successful in their bloc building techniques throughout the weekend.
Having not competed in a General Assembly (GA) since my junior year of high school (that is, at my first ever Model UN conference), prep was a challenge for me. Instead of devising schemes to figure out how to progress my position, members of my bloc and I spent hours researching how to help people within the context of being on the most irrelevant country— Costa Rica— to our topics largely centered in Asia. In the end, we made it through with our tongue twister plan of “Demilitarization, Decentralization, and Democratization” and our old bloc, called SHOTS. We may not have gaveled, but at least we got the superlatives of “Nicest Delegation” and “Most Diplomatic”… somehow.
Ultimately, I think UPMUNC was a learning experience for everyone. I know I learned how to be a better GA delegate and as much as it pains me to say, I can kind of see why people think that being in a GA is better than crisis. Four days of never-ending stress, starting over in a new bloc halfway through the conference, countless cups of coffee, and a few new friendships later, I am happy to say that I am beyond excited to see what the spring semester holds for our team and McMUN better watch out because it’s CCWA against the world, whether the world’s ready or not.
- Maddie Sisk, biggest crisis fan
YAJ, a Crisis delegate:
Earlier this month, with the initial winter breezes setting in, CCWA travelled to the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to compete at the 53rd iteration of the University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC). As one of the most well-known and engaging conferences of the year, CCWA’s attendance at the conference is quickly becoming more and more common, making each committee that more exciting and competitive
If you didn’t know, my name is Yajat, and I’m a freshman delegate with the CCWA travel team and have competed with OSU previously at CMUNNY, where I was lucky enough to win a Verbal Commendation. However, the disparity between high school MUN and the collegiate circuit still continues to surprise and sometimes overwhelm me.
I was part of the OSU delegation at UPMUNC, representing Robert Lansing, the Secretary of State in Woodrow Wilson’s Second Administration. And as any MUN-er can tell you, the role of the lead diplomat (just because of the inherent powers that come with the role) can be a game changer… in high school. In the college circuit, however, the level of competition is taken up a few levels, resulting in a committee where every delegate is from a top-tier school and can be an effective front room speaker and a backroom puppeteer, instead of specializing in only one- like in high school. And so, any role can be transformed into a game changer, making the path to winning Best Delegate a difficult one.
I had many arcs, many ideas, and many backup plans, ready to take on whatever challenge that UPMUNC could throw at me. But my strategies were based on the assumption that every college conference is the same, just like every high school conference used to be the same. I tried to use my powers to create a global shadow organization (sort of like the Bilderberg committee), as well as a peace conference so the impending war could be averted. But due to some issues with the crisis staff at UPMUNC as well as my inexperience with college crisis, I was not able to pull those plans or backups off and so was not lucky enough to win.
I hate losing more than I love winning, though. Being able to learn so much from every delegate on our team to the ones I was competing against regarding writing effective crisis notes, making impactful extemporaneous speeches, tailoring my behavior based on the chair and the crisis staff, was more valuable than the gavel and sets me up better for the crisis-heavy conferences this coming Spring. Overall, UPMUNC was one of the best experiences of my MUN career and the tips and tricks I learned there will definitely be at the core at a revamped strategy come Spring season.
- Yaj Dhawan, fellow MUN-er
