On Thursday, January 18th, Mr. Mott’s AP U.S. history class traveled to New Haven, Connecticut to attend the 50th iteration of Yale Model United Nations (YMUN). They were there for four days, participating in their committees, attending Yale classes, exploring New Haven’s city life, and much more.

YMUN is a mock-up of how real United Nations meetings would go. Delegates, the students from all over the world attending YMUN, each represent a country. The delegates from Proctor all represented the Netherlands.

The ceremony opened with a speech from the Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, followed by a Q&A session with him. 

After the opening ceremony, every delegate went to their first committee session. Each student from Proctor attended a different committee covering all sorts of global issues. 

“The committees were fun because it was a chance to do something totally different and new. It was also a chance to meet other people from everywhere around the world,” Mitchell Knowles said. He was a part of the “Everything is Fine: Welcome to The Place Committee”: tackling challenges about the meaning of life based on the TV series The Good Place.

Although the Proctor students enjoyed some parts of the committees, it wasn’t all perfect. “It was very bureaucratic and slow, and we were unprepared,” Soeren Long said. 

“A lot of the people were such tryhards it didn’t make it enjoyable,” Zoe Reynolds added. In total, delegates attended almost sixteen hours of committee time throughout the weekend. 

Every Proctor student who attended the conference wished they had been more prepared. “Choosing a committee that was smaller and being more prepared and knowledgeable about our countries would have made the overall experience more enjoyable,” Soeren said. Many delegates from other schools have been to model United Nations conferences before, and some even have classes that prepare them for the conferences.

Outside of their committees, the Proctor students enjoyed the experience. “My favorite part of the trip was the food and seeing the Yale campus. Meeting new people was really cool too,” Annika Staeblein said.

 “The best part of the trip was being in the city. There were just so many options and sights to see to fill every moment of the day,” Mitchell added. The New Haven city life is full of different restaurants and places to go, very different from rural Vermont.

Delegates had lots of freedom when it came to exploring the city and the Yale campus. Every day, the committee locations changed; allowing delegates to explore different parts of the campus and attend their committees in Yale lecture halls. “The Yale campus looked pretty cool. My favorite part was walking around and seeing all the different kinds of buildings they had on campus,” Zoe said.

 “The Yale campus was crazy. It looked like a Victorian castle. Some of the buildings on the inside were extremely beautiful. Also, the Yale showcase was really cool,” Soeren said.

On Friday, all delegates had the chance to attend Yale Day. During Yale Day, delegates got to attend classes from Yale professors, explore the campus and its art galleries, participate in workshops with Yale student groups, and more. Proctor students attended the Yale Showcase, which included acts from many of Yale’s fantastic performance groups. 

“I met a lot of new people and I learned a lot of things,” Zoe said. Overall, Mr. Mott’s AP U.S. History class had a fantastic time at the 50th iteration of Yale Model United Nations. Most of the students agreed that they may go back if they were given the opportunity.