Members of Model UN attend Chicago conference

Members of Luther’s chapter of Model United Nations recently participated in the American Model United Nations International Conference held in Chicago.

From Nov. 19-22, Luther students traveled to the windy city to join nearly 1,400 other students representing a variety of different countries and to discuss a myriad of political issues.

There were students from more than 100 other colleges and universities across the U.S. attending, and even a school from Taiwan.

Among the attendants was Kayla Norman (‘12), who has been a LCMUN participant for the past four years.

“The entire conference is a simulation of what the United Nations does,” Norman said.  “Every school represents a country, and this year Luther had the pleasure of representing Brazil.”

According to Norman, each person in the group divides into different committees to discuss differing topics.

“I worked with a partner in the social, humanitarian and cultural committee,” Norman said.  “One of our topics was simply the right to food.”

The goal of each individual committee then is to write resolutions in order to provide countries with suggestions on how to solve a variety of problems.

“You learn how politics really works and how hard it is to get over 100 different countries to agree on anything,” Norman said.

Katie Goodroad (‘12), who has participated with LCMUN for three years, especially enjoys attending the conference.

“We have a very diverse group here at Luther who participate, but we also get to work with schools from all over the United States,” Goodroad said.

Norman and Goodroad, both double majors in international studies and anthropology, are convinced that the conference guarantees hands-on experience.

“It is the absolute best way to learn about international policy because we actually get to do it,” Norman said.

Students have to take on the beliefs and ideas of other countries, whether or not they agree with them, and then must learn how to create solutions in diplomatic ways, according to Norman.

“It’s great because no one is allowed to wear anything that represents their school,” Goodroad said.  “You refer to everyone as their country, so a lot of the time we don’t know where people are from, but we do know that they represent the country of Chad.”

The conference takes place in Chicago each year and gives delegates a few hours to explore the city.

“Each year I have participated, I have been able to see something different: Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Hancock Tower and still had time to finish it off with some deep-dish pizza,” Goodroad said.

The experience is also complete with a delegate dance at the end of each conference.

“That dance is just about as hilarious as it sounds,” Norman said.