Ten Students Participate in Yale Model UN

On January 21–24, delegation from Groton School’s Model United Nations Club journeyed to Yale University, where the ten students participated in Yale’s Model United Nations conference, one of the nation’s largest and most highly regarded conferences of its kind.

Led by Sixth Formers Albert Zhu, William Zhang, Nancy Xue, and Yanni Cho, the students prepared for the conference by spending two hours every Sunday since Thanksgiving researching their topics and writing position papers

During their stay in New Haven over four days, including a blizzard on Saturday that curtailed some of the program, the Groton School students, along with roughly 1,500 other high school students from all over the world, perfected their skills at debating, negotiating, and delivering speeches, all as part of a complex simulation of the United Nations.  

Most of the Groton School students were new to Model UN and represented the country of Lithuania on various committees that make up the UN’s General Assembly or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Council (UNESCO)Albert Zhu was a judge on a special committee that investigated charges of war crimes against Muammar Gaddafi, the late dictator of Libya.  

At the conclusion of the conference, Third Former Jack Wilmerding (in above photo, in back holding a message for another delegate) was voted Best Delegate in his committee, for which he represented Sierra Leone at a meeting of the African Union.  

The conference organizers expressed appreciation for the terrific behavior and contributions of Groton School’s delegates. In addition to bringing together students who share a passion for global issues, the conference afforded the Groton students the opportunity to explore Yale’s campus and to meet with Yale faculty and students, including Katie Choi ’14, who was the Under-Secretary General for International Students at the conference.Tom Lamont P'12, '15, Model UN Advisor
Back