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On Saturday, February 25, Model United Nations clubs from schools all across the state of Colorado gathered at Fossil Ridge High School for its fifth annual Joint Crisis Council. The conference consisted of a realistic simulation regarding the Syrian War Crisis. Students represented countries from around the world and worked together to supply a solution to the crisis.
In this hypothetical simulation, the U.S. had launched an attack with the help of Syrian rebels against the Syrian government. This left the country in chaos, and rooms full of high school students to clean up the mess.
“I love model UN, I love politics, you’ve got no idea, I get really amped up. But specifically running this conference, I like being a part of something at Fossil, it’s my opportunity,” gushed the Fossil student in charge, Indigo Corso.
One of the unique features of Fossil’s conference was the added aspect of the media. Ridge TV and Etched in Stone collaborated to have both a live Twitter stream of the decisions of countries and a live update every thirty minutes where countries were given the opportunity to talk with anchors and make statements about their country’s actions.
The director of press, Stephany Morita, reflected, “Running [the media] has been a ton of fun. I have a great crew and everyone’s been working really hard. It’s like a real world experience, things move just as fast in the real world, you’ve got news coming in and people changing their perspectives just as fast as it happens for us.”
“The addition of the press is really cool. It adds this whole other dimension where not only are all the councils connected but the delegates know that what they say really does hold a lot of power and what comes out of their mouths will affect other people not only on this committee but in the hypothetical universe,” noted participant Lukas Lopez-Jensen.
Throughout the day, alliances were formed and broken as the students tried to navigate the complicated reality of world relations. Egypt in particular was a target of the media, or so they said. It was speculated that this was simply a ploy in order to put the blame on North Korea for comments suggesting Egypt would lead “the equivalent of 9/11.” This was not the only threat of the day, and by the end of it, Iraq was no longer a country.
It is this magnification of the intensity of reality that appeals to students about MUN. “It helps me learn how to debate and lets me speak on topics that I care about,” reflected Gavin West. “I like speaking about diplomatic issues and international issues,” added Alex Townsend.
Overall the event was a success. If you want to see Fossil’s Model UN team in action, their next conference is April 22 at Fairview High School.
