After winning big at the Southern Regional Model United Nations in Charlotte, Winthrop hosted high schools across the south from April 2-4.
Winthrop is known for being a politically active campus, bringing in many politicians to speak throughout the years and being heavily engaged in getting students registered to vote. So it’s no surprise that Winthrop’s Model United Nations program is revered across the country, particularly the South.
Recently, Winthrop hosted their 49th Annual Model UN Conference, where high schools from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina came out to hear speakers and earn awards.
The conference is organized by a group of student leaders in Model UN called the Secretariat. Donald Horack, T.J. Carbon, Caden Johnson and Stormy Brown, made up the team responsible for reaching out to high schools and planning out the event.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Parting Ways With Neo-Colonialism: Ensuring Global Achievement through Development for All.” Jennifer Leigh Disney, Chair of the Department of Political Science, directs the Model United Nations program and hosted the collegiate debate on April 2.
That same day, Winthrop hosted Princeton University Political Science professor Arthur Spirling as a keynote speaker for the conference. Spirling’s speech focused primarily on A.I. and its impact on the political landscape.
On April 3, the Model UN Luncheon took place, which featured over 450 high school students, advisors and Winthrop collegiate delegates and chairs.
Finally, the conference concluded with the General Assembly Plenary on April 4. There, high schools found out who won individual and group awards.
John Holder, adjunct professor in Political Science and an educator at Winthrop since 1995, participated in the conference as a judge. He spoke on how Winthrop has been able to maintain its success with the Model UN program.
“I think the long success of Winthrop’s program is due primarily to the fact that it’s had three outstanding program directors in its history: Dr. Melford Wilson, the founder; Dr. Chris Van Aller; and now Dr. Jennifer Leigh Disney. They’ve all been dedicated to keeping the program going year after year,” Holder said.
Holder continued, “And, of course, there have been 50 years of dedicated, hardworking students who’ve participated in it and taught their successors how to do it. The program has been successful for 50 years because there have always been people who were committed to its success, and to passing that commitment along.”
Holder also found his experience judging to be very rewarding, especially when it came to seeing how the college and high school students interacted with each other.
“I love watching the students debate and interact with each other. I really enjoy watching college students mentor high school students, and it’s very gratifying to be able to watch my students do something other than what I see them do in an American Government class. I learn more about the skills and capabilities of the people I teach. And every year, I learn something new about the world,” Holder said.
Winthrop’s Model UN Conference was not the only big success for the program this year, as they won two outstanding delegation awards back in March at the SRMUN for representing Tonga and Morocco. Winthrop was also the only university to achieve this award.
Winthrop’s Model UN is not just a great program to join due to its rich history, but also because of the skills it gives students.
“Model UN is important because it develops a wide range of skills. Participants learn about the world. Having to represent a country you might not know anything at all about to start with means learning something important and widening your base of knowledge. You learn public speaking skills and negotiating skills, among others. The high school students get a glimpse of what college is like, and hopefully some of the smartest and hardest-working high school students in South Carolina (and elsewhere) will like what they see here, and they’ll decide to come to Winthrop themselves,” Holder said.
