During the weekend of Nov. 21 through 23, thirty-two St. George’s students participated in the Model United Nations conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. St. George’s students took part in every aspect of the conference, including General Assembly, International Court of Justice, Secretariat, Security Council, Department of Public Information and officer positions.

St. George’s was able to have a delegate in each component of the conference, which is unique for a small, private school.

The 2014 Model United Nations conference was held in the Embassy Suites hotel in Murfreesboro, and over 700 students attended from schools throughout the Tennessee region. St. George’s students were a prominent presence throughout the different groups in the conference.

Several St. George’s students chose to take part in the General Assembly, in which students were assigned a country to represent and had to create a resolution for their country. They then presented this resolution to the rest of the Assembly.

“I voted on resolutions and talked pro or con about those resolutions,” said sophomore Mimi McCarroll, who participated in the General Assembly this year. ­­­

St. George’s students also took part in the International Court of Justice at the Model UN conference. The ICJ is a section in the conference where students are given resolutions that potentially violate the United Nations charter. The students in the ICJ either prosecute or defend those resolutions.

“I was a part of the International Court of Justice as a first-year lawyer team. It’s the part of the conference that deals with cases between two different nations,” said sophomore Anna Darty.

Three students from St George’s took part in the Secretariat portion of the conference. Senior Lexie Marotta and juniors Sutton Hewitt and Jake Lindow represented their own individual areas of expertise, which were human rights, sexual violence in conflict, and humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, respectively. Members of the Secretariat picked their favorite resolutions in their areas of expertise and lobbied for those resolutions to be passed for the General Assembly.

“A position in Secretariat allows you to influence what goes in the Secretary General’s packet of the best resolutions. I would use my expertise on sexual violence in conflict to either get a resolution on the packet or, if it was against my department, I would argue against it. A member of secretariat also has the capability to pro/con a resolution in GA and in Plenary through an intent speech and lobbying,” said Hewitt.

Junior Jared Whitaker took part in the Security Council during the conference. The Security Council looks at the different bills in the General Assembly for any that might pose a threat to global security. The council would debate on the resolutions and they would vote to determine if the resolution would pass or fail.

“My position was Lithuania in the Security Council. We didn’t have any veto power. But I was one of the main speakers in the conference,” said Whitaker, “I ran for General Assembly President. I got to talk to a lot of people through campaigning, and had a lot of weird conversations trying to get their votes.”

Eight St. George’s students took part in the Department of Public Information for video, and one student was involved in the print division. The video team came up with broadcasts during the conference, while the print team created short newspapers each day.

“In press we bring all of the components of the conference together and put it in one place, so people get a taste of the parts of the conference that they didn’t get to be a part of,” said junior Joshua Mullenix.

Sophomores Lauren Marotta, Caroline Farrell, and Mimi McCarroll, who all represented Malaysia, won an award in the closing ceremony of the conference for creating an Outstanding Resolution.

Sophomore Annie Vento will also be returning as the DPI video editor in the upcoming 2015 Model UN conference.