From November 20 to the 22, thirty-nine St. George’s students attended the Model United Nations conference held in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Sponsor Mrs. Emily Philpott believes this year’s group is the largest number of students St. George’s has ever sent to the conference.

At Model United Nations, or Model UN as it is more commonly known, students have the opportunity to represent hundreds of countries in the United Nations by creating resolutions that work to solve one of their country’s major issues. If students preferred not to be apart of the General Assembly, they also had the opportunity to participate in other components of the conference such as Secretariat, Security Council, International Court of Justice, or Department of Public Information.

Though St. George’s is a comparatively small school, it had participants in nearly every aspect of the conference. Junior Annie Vento and senior Sam Hyde were officers for this year’s Model UN conference, presiding as Video Press Editor and General Assembly Vice President respectively.

For next year’s conference, four students have already been elected into leadership positions. Vento has been re-elected as Video Press Editor and junior Alton Stovall will be assuming Hyde’s position as General Assembly Vice President. Sophomore Emma Pounders has been chosen as a Video Press Producer and sophomore Connor Lambert has been elected as the Security Council Liaison.

Of the thirty-nine St. George’s participants, thirteen of those participated in Model UN for their first time this year. One of Mrs. Philpott’s greatest hopes was that they would not be scared to engage.

“My hope was that students, especially the new ones, would feel comfortable enough to participate because there are a lot of students there,” Mrs. Philpott said. She believes the new participants “did a fabulous job.”

Sophomore Bennett Matson, who has participated since sixth grade, said that he enjoyed his time at this year’s conference.

When asked five words to describe his experience, Matson said it is “knowledgeable, interesting, friendship-y, educational and exciting.” During this conference alone, Matson believes he made 30 new friends, which demonstrates the conference’s social aspect.

“I was pretty upset that I joined late because I only got to experience press and security council,” senior Allie Harbert, who has been an active participant in Model UN for two years, said. Her favorite part of the conference was the fact that there was “lots of pizza.”

St. George’s received several awards in multiple categories at the conference.

Matson and junior Robert Grissom were recognized for their work as an outstanding delegate. Freshmen Rainey Zaugg and Paulina Hutchison, as well as juniors Lauren Marotta, Emily Persons, Jacob Saripkin, Mason Walker, Alton Stovall and Grissom, received awards for their outstanding resolutions. St. George’s was also the only school to receive the Outstanding Service Project award, given because of senior Francesca Healy’s work with Binghampton Christian Academy.

Harbert has been impressed by her overall experience with the Youth in Government program.

“It’s just been a great experience. The kids around me are so smart, and they honestly knew exactly what they were talking about,” Harbert said. “Being around them educated me to a point where I am familiar with the world around me.”

Though Model United Nations only occurs in the fall, Mrs. Philpott stated that students do not need to wait a year to become involved since Youth in Government sign-ups begin after Christmas break. At Youth in Government, students participate in a mock state government where they attempt to write and pass bills to solve major problems in Tennessee.