The smell of freshly brewed coffee fills the hotel’s conference room as junior Morgan Yeates walks into the room to represent Comoros. She’s surrounded by people from every corner of the world at the Harvard Model UN Conference 2025, each of them representing nations with a variety of viewpoints and goals.
The Northland Model UN Conference was hosted all-day, December 6th at Liberty High School. This is a change, as it has been hosted at Liberty North since 2022. This year, the conference was orchestrated in collaboration between the two high schools and it aimed to engage students in debate, diplomacy and collaboration.
In past years, she walked into the room as a delegate. This time, instead of being a delegate, she will be one of the Chairs. This means she is helping lead the Northland Model UN Conference. She made sure the committee ran smoothly, ensured parliamentary procedure was followed and tallied delegates’ votes on resolutions.
“Being a chair is something I’m really looking forward to. After attending many conferences as a delegate I’m excited to be on the other side of things and experience what it’s like to lead the conference,” senior Kate Ornelas said.
According to The United Nations, “Model UN conferences help students develop public speaking, writing and research skills. In addition, they often provide students with their first entry point into international affairs and concepts.”
The Northland Model UN Conference started in 2022 as an opportunity to expand Model UN opportunities in Kansas City. The committee has two conferences. The first is a General Assembly Plenary and the second is a Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM). Both of these committees are general committees, meaning they simply provide resolutions to international problems such as emergency humanitarian assistance.
“I also just think that it will be a really great introduction into something that is definitely up my alley,” senior Jill Vanyperen said.
Vanyperen represented Sweden in the SOCHUM committee. Vanyperen has been in debate for most of her high school career, and Model UN may expand her knowledge of debate styles. This conference will be her and others’ first time experiencing a Model UN conference.
“I believe this is really gonna help me with my speaking and overall extemping,” junior Zach Herzog said.
Delegates learn a variety of facts about their nation’s stance about the topic. This includes biases, goals and their history with the topic. They have to write position papers which compile all of this data into one article. These position papers become guides for delegates when deciding what actions to take in committee.
“You also need to have knowledge on the topic. You can’t just go in blind,” Yeates says. This holds true as a Chair but is also kept in mind as a delegate.
The Chair learns the overall facts of topics. They need to know enough about the topic to accurately judge delegates, but they should be void of biases or agendas which could impact decisions. Along with this, the Chair has to judge delegates’ position papers, analyzing its relation to the topic at hand as well as the accuracy of the data.
“I’m going to be a Chair with two other people on the Model United Nations team, and we’re gonna be taking the lead role in the committee,” Yeates said.
She will be a Chair with Ornelas and senior Scarlet Langhorst. All three of them are a part of the team’s secretariat, each having their own individual role for the team. They are all meant to assist in leading the team, providing mentorship and aid to novices.
The Northland Model UN conference offers opportunities to learn different committee roles for each team member. Novices are expanding their knowledge on parliamentary procedures, but the secretariat is taking a step up in leadership roles.
For interest in joining Model UN, email [email protected]. To learn more information about the Northland Model UN Conference, you can go to either https://sites.google.com/lps53.org/nomunc/home or look at @lifelibertymun on Instagram.
