High school junior Cassidy Gates is interested in learning about world issues.

“I think it’s kind of important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, especially because we’re teenagers, and so it’s going to be the world that we inherit,” she said. “I think it’s really important to learn about different issues that are going on and how we can make our world a better place.”

Gates’s interest helped start a Model United Nations club at Mountain Ridge High School last year. This year, the team, the only one in Jordan School District, competed at their first event, a Model UN assembly simulation held at Utah Valley University.

The seven team members represented the nations of South Africa and Slovenia, working in committees with other high school students representing other nations to address preservation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and genocide and mass atrocities.

Students said they learned a lot about collaboration as delegates explored solutions that all countries could agree on.

“You can’t pass a resolution with just one or two countries, you need, like, at least four for sponsors and a couple other signatories, so you can’t do anything alone is basically the whole premise of it. You have to work together,” sophomore Sylvia Packer said.

Students did extensive research to be prepared to represent their country’s interests.

 “You had to really know the topics in your committee and your country’s stance on them,” sophomore Kinley Doman said. “You’re collaborating with other delegates to make and sign a resolution to keep helping solve the problem.”

Senior Madison Moller said it was eye opening to see the issues from different countries’ perspectives.

“I just really tried aligning what I was saying with the country’s views instead of my own views, which is, I feel like, a really good way of creating a more broad perspective on things,” she said.

The discussions lasted for hours but Doman said it was worth the hard work.

“Whenever a resolution would pass, everyone would just start clapping,” she said. “And it’s just this surreal moment of you work together for hours making this resolution work, so it’s everyone just being excited that it got passed and voted for.”

The competition was student-led and followed the procedures of the real UN to give students a realistic experience. This required them to learn new skills.

“We learned a couple new skills to write the resolution paper,” Packer said. “We had to learn, like, an entirely new form of language of parliamentary terms. It was very complicated, but also very rewarding.”

Model UN Club Adviser Kelsie Berrett hopes to grow the team next year and be able to participate in more competitions.

“It really is just meant to simulate and give students a spirit and experience as to how the United Nations actually runs,” Berrett said. “And they were able to hear an address from an affiliate at the United Nations as well who shared some of his personal experiences. I think it opens up some doors to potential careers for those that are interested in international relations or politics, or just kind of gives them a vision for opportunities that they may have in the future.” λ