From October 19 to 22, Arcadia University’s Model United Nations team participated in the University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC) for the second time. Arcadia’s team operates as a part of the Politics, Government, and Law course, PS281: Model United Nations, led by associate professor of Political Science, Dr. Angela Kachuyevski. 

The annual UPMUNC is organized by UPenn’s Model UN program, hosting students from other colleges and universities as they debate and seek to resolve important international problems. There are different committees and topics for students to get involved with, allowing for them to get into character, debate with others, and learn from an in-depth foreign policy simulation. 

The two types of committees students were assigned into were the “General Assembly” committees, which replicate the typical operations of the United Nations, and “Crisis Committees,” which provide a more fast-paced and intense experience as students respond to crises in real time.

PS281 students prepared for the conference for over a month and a half before they attended the conference, helping them to immerse themselves in the experience and forge connections beyond Arcadia’s campus along the way. 

“It was a crazy experience,” said Maze Herbst ’25, one of the PS281 students. “It was very difficult at first and stressful. But once I got used to it, it got way better.”

Victoria Brown ’25, another student in the class, added that one of the highlights of UPMUNC was “being in the moment, this is really one of those ‘learn as you go’ experiences.” She also explained that she was able to gain lots of confidence from this experience, “Outside of actual MUN content, being able to keep going, and stay engaged was a good thing to walk away with.”

“Model UN conferences are never easy and can be extremely intimidating,” said Kaitlyn Callaghan ’25M, graduate assistant for Dr. Kachuyevski, “however this group of students definitely broke out of their shells to embrace the opportunity they had at UPMUNC.”

“The Model UN program offers students an experiential learning opportunity that builds professional skills such as public speaking, policy analysis, negotiation and collaborative problem solving and persuasive writing,” added Dr. Kachuyevski. “The majority of our class were new to Model UN, and I could not be more pleased with how well they did. I am already looking forward to our return next year!”