From Philapedia to Washington D.C., the High School’s Model UN team has traveled the East Coast to compete in numerous prestigious conferences and take home awards! Consisting of forty-plus students, the Radnor team ranges from sophomores to seniors. This year there were a total of four trips that the students attended. RUMUN in Rutgers (NY), NHSMUN in Washington D.C. (MD), PHILMUN in Philadelphia (PA), and finally nationals (NHSMUN) in New York City. They all provided a unique range of sites to visit, restaurants to try, and most of all, topics to discuss in session! 

For those readers who may be unfamiliar with the Model UN, the club attends various conferences where they take place in simulations of the United Nations. Each student, known as a delegate, selects a committee of the UN to take part in and a country to act as. Working as single or double delegates, students from all around the country and even internationally gather to participate in the annual conferences. The competitors typically take three days to discuss assigned topics for their given committee and work to write resolutions. All students within the committee separate into groups known as ‘blocks’ to collaborate on mock United Nations resolutions. At the end of the conference, the ‘blocks’ reconvene to vote on the proposals—a process also modeled on real UN procedure. It is not until the final award ceremonies that every conference attendee comes back together to hear the awards for each given committee. Radnor has an extremely skilled team, resulting in wins at every conference attended by the team in the 2023-2024 season!

RADMUN attended their first conference of the season, RUMUN, hosted by Rutgers University, in November 2023. Located in a charming but small town in NY, the team competed in the four-day conference. Notably, RUMUN serves as an introductory conference for the new delegates to the Radnor Team by pairing new members with experienced juniors and seniors. Together the double-delegate teams served in a variety of committees, and even a few crisis simulations. Delegates had to be careful though, because the crisis committees could be called at all hours. One team member rushed to the committee at 2 AM! Members of RADMUN claim that the committee at this conference was long; however, the numbers were ideal. Coming in with 20-60 people in a given committee, students made sure their ideas were heard. The town also featured a highly rated bagel shop and pizza shop, feeding hundreds of suit-wearing high schoolers in between committees! In the end, students Dan Kaper, Chase Carlton, Dean Goodchild, Emily Decker, Michael Parella, Martina Becerril, Parnia Nasrullah, Jacqueline Dunn, Kaitlin Browne, and Luke Howard came home with awards!

Following a break, RADMUN resumed their season in February attending NAIMUN in Washington D.C. and PHILMUN in Philadelphia. Located just outside of central D.C., the Washington conference was run by Georgetown University students. Delegates enjoyed a free morning to explore the city where some of RADMUN made it all the way to the capitol building! Others enjoyed their time exploring the local shops, sampling the eateries, or preparing for their committee.

This conference provided a new challenge for students as much of Radnor’s team took part in larger 100-300-person committees. Nonetheless, Radnor Student provided innovative solutions to the conference’s topics such as sustainability and women’s rights. The final night of the conference was a highlight for the group, as it included a team dinner in D.C. and a Secret Service theme night. Students also relaxed at the Georgetown student showcase and Delegate dance. An ACL tear at the dance caused some worries for the delegates, but they eventually partied on. Some Radnor Students even took home awards, including Micheal Tropeano, Kethan Kalra, Finn Ryan, Dan Kaper, Micheal Parella, Dean Goodchild, Sofie Jubelirer, and Will Duff.

With only a week in between NAIMUN and PHILMUN, Radnor soon left for Philadelphia. The conference contained manageable 30-40-person committees allowing students to delve deeply into their topics and write thorough papers! Although this conference included less free time to explore the city, compared to the others during the season, a nearby Starbucks caffeinated the team through the hours of discussion! In a flashback to the class of 2024’s freshman year, the theme night of the conference’s games and karaoke evening was Frat Boys. All in all, it was another successful conference with Zach Cohen, Luke Howard, Charles Yang, Will Duff, Micheal Parella, Sofie Jubelirer, Olivia Dhavale, Eadlin Morrissey, Finn Ryan, Ryan Donoghue, Anna Conen, Sonia Dougherty, and Parina Nasrullah all winning awards!

The season ended with the final conference in March—the National High School Model UN competition in New York City. This global conference featured committee members from all over the nation and the world. Although the elevators were packed, if you were lucky enough to enter one, then you were sure to hear some Italian as the number of students from Italy was astonishing! Excitingly, Radnor students had a free morning and plenty of breaks to enjoy the city. Some ate bagels in Central Park, and others walked the Highline or visited the MoMA. In committee, Radnor students worked hard to take home numerous wins. Shout out to Blake Steel, Akshay Sethi, Parnia Nasrullah, Micheal Parella, Olivia Dhavale, Luke Howard, Zach Cohen, Anna Conen, Finn Ryan, and Chase Carlton for winning awards. Special mention to sophomores Emily Decker and Anjali Padmawar who were selected to speak at the awards ceremony in front of hundreds of people!

Radnor Model UN had a wonderful season that could not have been possible without the fantastic senior officers, Micheal Parella, Sofie Jubelirer, and Parnia Nasrullah or the teacher leads Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Spear, whose organization made four fun and rewarding trips. Stay tuned for more from RADMUN. Freshman, sophomores, or juniors: we hope to see you at the spring tryouts!

Want to see more from RADMUN? Check out the official Instagram @radnormun