On the weekend of Dec. 6, 2023, State High hosted the State College United Nations Conference, also known as SCUNC. SCUNC is an event that was held for the first time by State High last year. Penn State University was in charge of holding a high school Model UN conference every fall for about a decade, until last school year. That was when the club members of Model UN at State High decided to host the event themselves.
The conference itself is organized and planned by the advisors and the student officers of the club. The student officers include: the Directors of Simulation, Sasha Andrzhievsky and Carsten Briscoe, Co-Presidents Lydia Roberts and Maya Salter, Treasurer and Director of Outreach Violet Doyle, and the Secretary Claire Fox.
“I had a very unique role as the only officer who actually participated in the conference,” Fox said.”I am the MUN Secretary, so as a member of the officer team I helped the officers plan the event, although my participation in the planning was relatively minimal. Mainly as Secretary I made sure that our members knew all the details of the event and were properly signed up for the event. I also helped in assigning roles for our members.”
Brian Smith, one of the club advisors, said, “Myself and the club’s other advisor, Alex Kimbro, just make sure that our officers have all the resources that they need. We help them make decisions, but really we try to work as a team when it comes to decision making.”
Although planning and preparing to compete in this conference is an important aspect of Model UN, there are other skills that are a natural but important outcome that comes from being in the club and attending the event. These skills include public speaking, decision making, social skills, and more.
“I liked being able to meet new people, as it is one of my favorite parts of MUN conferences. To my knowledge everyone had a good time, and new friendships were made which is one of the more important parts of a MUN conference,” Fox said.
“It is nice to see it all come together, to see students coming from different schools, to watch our students and their students work together, and watch all of the hard work of our officers pay off,” Smith said.
Conferences like SCUNC are a way for students to get a different perspective on international events and ideas, because the participants stimulate and act out the said international events and ideas. Overall, competing in this event helped students develop confidence, public speaking skills, leadership skills, writing and research skills, and teamwork.
