The MRHS Model United Nations Club successfully held its third-ever rendition of RIDGEMUNC on Saturday, December 14th, 2024. Building on the successes of their past two conferences, the RIDGEMUNC staff have put in similar efforts to bring the conference back this year with many new changes.
Due to the increased participation over the past two years, the Model UN board has expanded the options that delegates could participate in with five new crises and three general assemblies. With topics ranging from gene engineering, the 2008 recession and even a fictional crisis on Avatar the Last Airbender, delegates were able to participate in the one that appealed most to them. Over 160 delegates across 13 schools participated in the conference this year, doubling the turnout of 80 delegates from the first time they hosted it in 2022.
“RidgeMUNC is an amazing opportunity to meet new people, exercise your public speaking skills, and place your love of debating into defending a delegation,” said sophomore and Model UN publicity secretary Aanya Contractor.
To account for all the demand, planning a conference of this scale required a lot of effort. The RIDGEMUNC staff spent countless hours on background guides, advertising with banners and posters as well as planning the logistics of the actual event including food and location.
“We’ve been planning since last year. We had to update the website and make ten background guides which are 20 pages each. Then we had to create character guides, registration, a lot of advertising and correspond with other schools, it was a lot of work. We invite 200+ schools every year so it takes a lot of time,” explained senior and Model UN internal president Jeremey Jacob.
Each year the conference opens with a guest speaker to introduce the event and inspire all the delegates. Maryland State Senator Clarence Lam gave the opening speech this year, encouraging everyone to be advocates and shared his foray into the political world.
Aside from the regular committee activities, the board decided to implement a new fundraiser element at the conference by making it a competition, where the committee that bought in the most candygrams got the chance to pie the board in the face.
“This year at RidgeMUNC, we launched a new and exciting fundraiser where delegates can purchase a small bag of candy and a personalized note to be delivered to another conference attendee. Once received, the notes were read aloud during committee sessions, adding a fun and lighthearted element to the conference and a fun way to support our community. We were able to raise over $250 through this initiative,” added Model UN external president Utkarsh Mandsaurwale.
The conference was a great opportunity for students to meet new people and practice their public speaking skills. Delegates were all engaged in their committees,and whether they were a large nation or small one, it was still a learning opportunity.
“Participating is fun to argue with people and it’s more rewarding when you win. [Being a] big nation means you usually have stronger stances and more power in Model UN, like veto powers in bigger committees, and it’s often easier to lead blocks when you’re a bigger country,” shared senior Trijal Pinninti.
Being the first conference for many, most delegates were impressed with the unique aspects of RIDGEMUNC and the opportunity to debate and engage in international affairs. The participants demonstrated exceptional preparation and knowledge of global issues, causing the event to be a big success and bringing students from various schools together to engage in meaningful debates.
“I thought [the conference] was really fun and it inspired me to do it again next year and do Model UN. I thought that the Avatar committee was a really good choice as a beginner since I got to choose what I wanted to do and secondly seeing the board get pied in the face was pretty funny,” shared freshman Jas Rathnakar.
The Model UN Club enjoyed being able to continue their tradition of hosting RIDGEMUNC successfully for the third year in a row. The conference was a great opportunity for students to explore the field of international relations and practice their public speaking skills in an engaging way.
