Model United Nations in the United States is a popular extracurricular activity for middle school, high school, and college students. The United States was where Model United Nations originated and was popularized, and is also where many of the world's most respected conferences are held. The U.S. has several regional centers of Model UN, each with its own distinct style.
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Traditionally, Model UN has been associated with affluent schools and communities, but in recent years, the activity has expanded to reach more students.
Model UN by Region
Model United Nations is popular across the United States, with MUN clubs and conferences being found in every region. However, because of the fact that Model UN is decentralized and has grown autonomously, there are significant differences in how MUN is done between regions.
East Coast
Centered on the New York and Washington metropolitan areas, both of which play host to a multitude of prestigious, largely university-hosted conferences, including those of Georgetown University (Georgetown International Relations Association) and George Washington University. Other conferences in the region include HMUN, hosted by Harvard, JHUMUNC hosted at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and NMUN, hosted in New York City. The Northeast has established a reputation for approaching Model United Nations with an idealistic philosophy, while still emphasizing the academic competition aspect of Model UN and giving awards for delegates. Conferences also evaluate delegates holistically when deciding on the distribution of awards. Crisis committees are especially popular in the Northeast, and lead to this region's conferences having more of a focus on creativity.
West Coast
The West Coast is known for their Model United Nations programs. Naturally stressing the academic side of Model UN, conferences greatly value well-written position papers, not just factoring them into awards decisions, but also giving dedicated awards for them. The popularity of Model United Nations, as well as for the high quality of delegates. West Coast conferences are run by universities, high schools, and interscholastic organizations. Northwest Model United Nations (NWMUN) is the premier collegiate Model UN conference in the Pacific Northwest, which is hosted in Seattle during November. Additionally, NWMUN has a sister conference hosted in Portland in February. NWMUN conferences provide participants with an enjoyable experience that helps develop public speaking, writing, research and negotiation skills. BMUN (Berkeley MUN), McKennaMUN, and TritonMUN are popular college conferences for high school delegates. Additionally, high school run conferences such as Huntington Beach High School's Surf City and Novice Conferences, CHSMUN, and Mira Costa's LAIMUN are all nationally recognized conferences. Finally, conferences like San Diego's SDIMUN are run by high school students from many schools.
Midwest
Despite the fact that the Midwest has fewer conferences than the more established East and West Coast circuits, it still has a very developed and distinct Model UN culture that is dominated by small regional conferences (such as Midwest Model UN (MMUN), Model UN at the University of Illinois (MUNI), and large international-level conferences centered around Chicago. While some major conferences are located in Michigan and Missouri, most are located in Illinois, specifically in Chicago.
Chicago is a major hub of the Model UN community at large, but maintains a strong sense of independence, and is known to have a characteristic focus on realism and innovative crisis simulations. MUN is mostly seen as an educational political exercise, where the students understanding of the world and power is emphasized, and where awards and resolution writing tend to be de-emphasized. As a result, the Midwest's crisis conferences are well-regarded, with ChoMUN and CIMUN being particularly well known for this style.
Model United Nations of the University of Chicago (MUNUC) is the largest high school conference in the Midwest, featuring 27 different committees, with several thousand delegates in attendance. The Model United Nations Development Organization (MUNDO) runs the Chicago International Model United Nations (CIMUN), which featured 24 committees, and welcomed 1300 high school delegates in 2014, its 11th annual conference. CIMUN is known to be among the most innovative and fastest growing Model UN's in the US and features some of the most realistic simulations available for high school students.
The Chicago Model United Nations (ChoMUN), also organized by the University of Chicago, is the most prestigious college-level Model UN conference in the region, being well known for its unique simulations, and is known to be one of the best college-level crisis conferences in the US. The American Model United Nations (AMUN), an independent organization, is the largest college-level conference in the Midwest and featured 15 committees. In 2014, AMUN welcomed 1400 delegates from around the US and the globe, and also celebrated its 25th anniversary.
In recent years, more Midwestern teams have also traveled to conferences on the East Coast, raising their profile nationally. High schools, such as the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, St. Ignatius College Prep, Lyons Township High School, Glenbrook South High School, and Carl Sandburg High School have performed well at large East Coast conferences and have become particularly well-known. University teams have also been successful, such as UChicago's team which in both 2013 and 2014 was ranked the best college Model UN team in North America, the first team to twice achieve this feat. Other teams like Alma College, UW Oshkosh and University of Illinois - Chicago have made a name for themselves at larger conferences like National Model UN (NMUN) and American Model UN (AMUN), and at regional conferences like Midwest Model UN (MMUN).
In addition to the city of Chicago, several Minnesota teams have become major players in conferences around the country. Edina High School hosts the only student run conference in Minnesota, often attracting up to four hundred high school delegates from over twelve metropolitan schools. Edina High School is also ranked in the top 150 high school programs in the country by Best Delegate. Other notable Minnesota teams include Minnetonka High School and the Blake School.
South
Middle school Model UN is fairly popular in the South. The vibrant South region of Model UN in the U.S. can be easily divided into three sub-regions, San Antonio, Texas, Southwest Florida, and Virginia. All excel at Model UN and have distinct styles.
Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, students are bilingual and speeches in committee are therefore allowed to be made in either English or Spanish. It should be noted however that Spanish is used slightly more often.
The speaking style of Puerto Rican Model UN delegates tends to be more animated than that of other delegates. Students often speak louder and faster, and when delivering speeches, they may pace in front of their committee instead of standing still.
After a speech, if a delegate wishes to ask a question of the speaker they must ask “Delegates, will you accept my question?” before being able to address the speaker. This is a practice isolated to Puerto Rico, and delegates may be penalized by their chairs if they fail to adhere to it.
Chairs in Puerto Rico adopt a more activist approach, directing the flow of debate and banging their gavels often. This is in comparison to the facilitator style of chairing more common in the rest of the United States which allows delegates to direct more of the flow of debate.
Parents in Puerto Rico are highly supportive of Model UN and some are even alumni. It is not uncommon for parents to volunteer to help at conferences, and many are present at closing ceremonies.