As 38 George School students loaded the bus on January 30th, they were prepared for a weekend full of hard work and socialization. However, it was not the normal kind for many teenagers, because the GS students were gearing up for AmeriMUNC. AmeriMUNC is a Model United Nations (MUN) conference in Washington D.C. This conference is a George School favorite because it is held at American University and is a relatively small conference compared to others held at universities, it is always a fun weekend. The theme of this conference was Latin America, so every committee was focused on an issue affecting the countries there. Committees included those from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime committee, which was centered on Organized Crime in Latin America, to the United Nations Security Council, which was focused on the Essequibo territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. This theme shaped the conference to be more specific than just discussing general worldwide issues, and was challenging to many delegates assigned to countries outside of Latin America.

Although January 30th was the first official day of work for AmeriMUNC, the GS team had been working hard for many weeks to prepare for their committees and topics. To prepare before the conferences, all individuals have different strategies. Seasoned delegate Noah Buxton ‘25 says he feels it is “important to do SPEAR and power search for reliable sources to understand your countries position and perspective before really researching the topic of your committee.” SPEAR is a research tactic to find important information about your country’s position on the topic. The acronym stands for Speeches, Plans/Programs, Events, Agreements, and Reports. The aim is to find information that you might not find in a generic search and evidence that can be relevant to your country’s position in committee. However, the team definitely has some other forms of research, as mentioned by Emery Money ‘25, who says she likes to look up information on what other countries in her committee may be doing “that maybe doesn’t shine so brightly on them”. For her, this information is useful when she “gets backed into a corner to bring up in a conference.” This is an example of how creative MUN can be as it is not always about how to win, but also how to facilitate and participate in interesting debate that adds to the competitive nature of committee. Steven Tunison ’26 believes that “all ideas can be used in some way” and MUN encourages diversity of ideas, opinions, and presentations.

Model UN can be quite an individual competition, however, GS delegates work well as a team because they help to build each other up and focus on having fun and learning, more than striving for awards. As one of the team’s leaders, Emery Mooney ‘25, put it, “I’d say we have a really good balance at George School with our MUN team, we don’t take ourselves too serious, we’re not award driven, which doesn’t mean we don’t win awards, but for a lot of other schools it just seems like they there just to win awards and they sort of get lost in the process.” At AmeriMUNC, the GS team came home with 4 awards. Steven Tunison ‘26 secured an Honorable Mention in the OAS (Organization of American States) committee, representing the delegation of Mexico. We also had two pairs of GS delegates receive awards in double-delegation committees, which is where two delegates from the same school work together to present speeches and ideas as a team. Ruben Kabelitz ‘26 and Gesar Schwandt ‘26 received the Diplomacy award for their success as a team in the World Health Organization and Noori Nagra ‘25 and Noah Buxton ‘25 received both the Diplomacy award and Best Delegates in the United Nations Security Council! Best Delegates is what it sounds like, and is given to the most well-rounded and successful member of every given committee. Despite the size of AmeriMUNC, roughly about 950 delegates, the GS team brought home 4 awards in 3 different committees, all of which were filled with many other skilled delegates and delegations from all over the Americas, including delegates from Brazil. 

The trip was not just about MUN, as the delegates were all staying at a Marriott hotel in the heart of DC. Whether it was morning fit checks with Zoë and Ziva or chatting on the bus rides with Sam and Shirhith, the team had a lot of bonding time together. The GS delegates got to explore new restaurants, such as One Fish Two Fish and local pizzerias, and have fun exploring the city in other ways when not in conference, with many trips to the local Walgreens for snacks, umbrellas, and bandaids for the insane amount of blisters given by their business casual shoes. Before the first day of the conference the team had a planning meeting in the hotel second lobby. This was to help each other with solutions and tips for committee, but also celebrate the birthdays of three GS students with cupcakes and singing! Lots of the GS delegates started the mornings bright and early, to have enough time to dress in western business attire and go to Tatte for morning breakfast, which usually consisted of amazing matcha lattes and chai tea. 

The conference started around 9 AM everyday, so the buses to American University were usually leaving around 8. The hotel accommodated every delegate that was not local for the conference, which presented the team with many fun events, such as the Delegate Dance, which was held in the hotel and open for all delegates staying at the hotel. The dance was an interesting experience to say the least, and it included socialization with delegates in and out of our individual committees, dancing, card games, and fun! New Delegate Bess Haney ‘27 said that the highlight of her experience at AmeriMUNC was “getting to meet people from all over the country and having so much fun talking to people in the committee about their experiences with Model UN.” Her experience shows that although challenging, MUN is open for everyone, new or experienced, and is all about working together collaboratively and meeting new people. Bess also mentioned that she found the people in her committee really nice and helpful whenever she had a question. She chose MUN because she, “wanted to work on my communication skills and challenge myself to learn new skills”, for whatever reason yours is, you should too! Model UN is not just about debate and research, but about expanding your speaking skills, learning about global issues, and making friends along the way.