Students from Hutchison learned significant world issues and debating skills at the Model United Nations conference from November 12th-14th. They dedicated hours of hard work to the conference, read numerous resolutions, and debated for several hours each day.

A group of high school students traveled to East Tennessee to change world policies and have an impact in many countries. Sophomores Noorain Gill, Maddie Lee, Hira Janjua, Shifa Qureshi, and Inaaya Saeed represented resolutions that made it into General Assembly, where they had to present their country’s resolution in front of hundreds of students from different schools in Tennessee.

After the bus ride, the students got food and went to the opening ceremony, which lasted 2 hours. After the opening ceremony, the delegates debated their resolutions in their committees for 3 to 4 hours. The students then had a break, got some lunch, and met new friends. Around 7 or 8 in the nighttime, the delegates went back to their committees to debate other country’s resolutions again. Finally, at 10 the students went to their hotel rooms to sleep after an extremely tiring day.

Noorain Gill said, “Debating other countries was super fun, but the night activities on Saturday were probably my favorite part of the conference.” The night activities at the Model UN conference included a dance party, trivia, a movie room, and a homework room. Many students went to these night activities and socialized with other students from different schools. After the night activities, students went back to their hotel rooms to relax, talk with their friends, and eat. After a very long day of debating at General Assembly, which had committees with hundreds of people, the night activities were a good break to help the students relax and have fun.

Sophomore Inaaya Saeed said, “My favorite part about the experience was Yik Yak. It made everything more relatable and funny.” Although the Saturday night activities were a way for everyone to socialize with each other, people also bonded through the app Yik Yak. Everyone on the app was anonymous and people were able to share their opinions and agree with others. The students at the assembly joked around and communicated easily with each other through the app.