Model UN Team

Bryant High School Students Excel at Competition in Diplomacy

Bryant students recently competed at Model UN, a simulation of the United Nations General Assembly where students perform an ambassador role while debating topics such as gender equality, climate action, global health, and more.

Model UN is a competition in diplomacy, oratory, writing, and extemporaneous speaking. Representing their assigned nation, students act as delegates to persuade others to join them in creating written resolutions to real world problems. Students must use parliamentary procedure and follow established conference guidelines in order to be heard in the room. Using their skill sets, they convince fellow delegates to support the resolution with their vote. 

Bryant High School’s Model UN sponsor, Will Heatherly, helps students prepare for the conference almost a year in advance. Through a raffle system, BHS was assigned two nations: United States and Russia. Once assigned their nations, the student delegates receive specific topics that will be used during the conference. Students select their committee and begin researching. Each nation has a head delegate who speaks during the General Assembly. 

Prior to the conference, each country must submit a combined Position Paper that lays out the opening positions for the nations on the committee’s topics. Each delegate writes part of the paper while the head delegate for the country is responsible for assembling the final paper. Producing an award winning paper requires at minimum collegiate level writing, if not professional level. 

Under Mr. Heatherly’s leadership, Bryant High School students are strong contenders at Model UN. Although COVID forced the conference to go virtual this year, students performed extremely well, earning both team and individual honors.

Honorable Mention Outstanding Delegates
First Committee: Jack Clay (Russian Federation)
Second Committee: Summer Brown (USA) and Madelyn Hunter (Russian Federation)
Historic Security Council: Aaron Garcia (USSR)
Permanent Council of the OAS: Callie Maurer (USA)

TEAM AWARDS
Outstanding Delegation Honorable Mention: Russian Federation and United States of America
Position Paper Awards: Russian Federation and United States of America

“Through public speaking, critical thinking, and in-depth research, the Model UN experience allows students to cultivate skills and enrich their global affairs knowledge,” said Mr. Heatherly. “Model UN is respected by colleges and universities because of the high level of commitment, work and preparation required. The experience better prepares students to interact on a professional level.”