From Debate to Diplomacy: How Students Learn Through "Model United Nations"

What’s it really like to be in a Model United Nations Project Class? At Jesse Remington High School, students stepped into the shoes of global delegates to tackle real-world issues in a fast-paced, role-playing environment. From mastering public speaking and persuasive debating to managing documents and crunching data in Excel, this hands-on project taught more than just politics—it built real-life skills that will last a lifetime. Let’s hear how this unique experience helped them grow both personally and academically.

Carter Woodrow shared:

"In the Model United Nations project class, each person was assigned to serve as the delegate of a real country and represent the values of the country by playing the role of a theoretical delegate of that country. My role was the delegate for Russia, which was both fun and challenging. This model United Nations project class has afforded me much growth and practice in the areas of public speaking, problem solving, task management, and conflict resolution. 

During the class there are different subjects which the nations have to come together and solve. Due to delegates having conflicting interests for the wellbeing of each country, there was often discourse that needed to be settled through moderated or unmoderated caucuses. In the moderated caucus you are given a limited time to speak, and you have to sell your point to the other delegates.  This might be signing your bill, not signing someone else’s bill, or taking some other action to help your nation. At first it was extremely challenging to explain everything I needed to say in such a short time; however upon practice I improved. My ability to present myself persuasively also improved through these miniature debates.

As we worked to solve global problems, we also were tasked to solve international problems, which inevitably came about. Sometimes there were too many different problems to solve in a single class, so we had to prioritize effectively choosing which tasks were most important and which ones we could wait upon. Different delegates would take contradicting positions on the same topic in order to accurately fulfill the role as a mock delegate from their respective nations. It became a necessity to practice our problem solving skills and make good compromises. Overall the Model United Nations has been one of my favorite project classes at Jesse Remington; not only does it provide us experience in all types of skills, but we also have a ton of fun while we do it. "

Josiah Lewis shared:

"The project class Model United Nations has been a very formative and enjoyable time. Some skills I have learned are managing and doing calculations on an excel spreadsheet and authoring informative historical scenarios from different perspectives. The class has also helped me improve my organizational skills in managing many different documents and papers at once. Additionally, they all need to be referenceable in an easy-to-read manner. In essence, Model UN was a fantastic opportunity to improve many fundamental skills in life."