USN students put 'Model' in Model United Nations

By Mackey Luffman, Model UN/Youth In Government Advisor

What a weekend it was for USN High Schoolers. Success at the state cross country meet was punctuated by faculty observances of Abet and Aid Punsters Day. Meanwhile, in Murfreesboro, 62 USN High School students participated in the Model United Nations conference sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Center For Civic Engagement. Together, they maintained USN’s tradition of providing leadership from the front, in the middle, and at the end of the conference components.

Leading from the front of this year’s conference was Brendan West ‘25, who served as Secretary General of the United Nations and the senior student officer position at the conference. Also leading a component (again) this year was Ophelia Cherry-Pulay ‘25 as President of the Security Council, who was responsible for both facilitating the work of the council (managing some considerable egos in the room) in addition to representing Syria, always a challenge in today’s political climate. Ophelia was joined in the Security Council by Ellie Rothman ‘25, who served as the Security Council Liaison, managing the Council’s interactions with the other components at the conference. Finally, Binyam Dunne ‘26 served as a General Assembly Vice President and shared responsibilities with other elected student officers to facilitate debates in the General Assembly and its committees. 

This year’s seniors continued our tradition of leadership "on the floor" of the components. Caroline Kuiper '25 represented the United States in the Security Council, holding her own with a deft combination of diplomacy and the occasional veto to promote U.S. foreign policies. Beckett Dahir '25 served in the Secretariat as Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs, contributing to the debate on General Assembly resolutions on relevant topics and shaping Secretariat policies.  

Other senior leadership in the General Assembly included a "dream team" of Madeline Chalos '25, Liv O’Hara '25, Gibson Hurley '25, and Luc Assouad '25, representing Germany and sponsoring a resolution to reform the Security Council and its permanent membership. Carmen Gaskin '25, Kermina Rezk '25, and Jaya Gupta '25 represented Montenegro and sponsored a resolution to increase UN funding for shelters for victims of domestic partner abuse among migrant women. Finally, Stewart Hall '25 and Oliver McDowell '25 represented the Marshall Islands and presented a provocative resolution to decolonize further the Pacific Islands governed by non-indigenous nations. 

Model UN is also an opportunity for students in different classes to mix. A multiclass delegation comprised of seniors Tessa Chomsky '25, Cameron Boros '25, Iliana Behaguey-Mentzel '25, and Z Aulino '26 represented Peru in the General Assembly and wrote a resolution to promote the husbandry of guinea pigs/cuy/cavy through the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Junior delegations were led by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, represented by Lin Zheng '26, Maeve Stevenson '26, Laura Fonseca '26, and Jaymin Pastakia ‘26, who sponsored a resolution to increase funding to supply HPV vaccines to girls in developing countries. Paulo Saoud '26, Luc Behaguey-Mentzel '26, Ebe Asfaw '26, and Mack Cohen-Poole ‘26 represented Guinea-Bissau but committed the classic blunder of not letting their advisor proofread their resolution before submitting it to the conference.  

USN sophomores and ninth graders were also present. MUN veterans Aaron Raney ’27, Elisabeth Crane ’27, Caroline Stinner ’27, and Jack Fruin ‘27 represented Madagascar; Melis Kurtulis ’27, Fair Wellons ’27, Julia Young ’27, and Aria Little ‘27 represented Seychelles; Gryffin Anderson ’27, Jack Barrett ’27, Flora Li ’27, and Asher Freiberg ‘27 represented Monaco; Bridget Beem ’27, Ruchika Ramachandran ’27, Norah Harrison ’27, and Mia Orefice ‘27 represented Equatorial Guinea; Caden Carraba ’27, Laila Fierce ’27, Amelia Scanlan ’27, and Olivia Stany ‘27 represented Chad. All told, the sophomores dominated the developing African nations bloc.

Ninth-grade delegations included Mary Kate Adler ‘28, Maya Boyapati ‘28, Angelina Compaglia ‘28, and Eesha Nachnani ‘28 (representing Djibouti); Hailey Gibson ‘28, Asha Guha ‘28, Madeline Shinohara ‘28, and Charlotte Soslow ‘28 (representing Namibia); Adeline Miller ‘28, Liam Mooney ‘28, and Suzie Zhao ‘28 (representing the United Arab Emirates); Liam Dixon ‘28, Aidan Harris ‘28, Houston Hirt ‘28, and Abe Sharfstein ‘28 represented Uruguay. 

Our students were their usual outstanding selves. The awards committee gave Outstanding Delegate Awards to Lin Zheng '26, Carmen Gaskin '25, Tessa Chomsky '25, Cameron Boros '25, and Julia Young '27. This was Tessa’s second straight award at Model UN.

The delegations for Germany (Chalos, O’Hara, Hurley, and Assouad), Peru (Boros, Chomsky, Behague-Mentzel, and Aulino), and DRC (Zheng, Stevenson, Fonseca, and Pastakia) also won Outstanding GA Resolution Awards.