Lawrence University’s Model United Nations team has come roaring back to life in recent years after losing steam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Led by President Bruna Velez, a senior international relations major from New York City, and Vice President Jack Stuart, a senior international relations and computer science double major from Milwaukee, the team joined schools from 50 states and six continents at the National Model UN Conference in Washington, D.C, in the fall.
The LU team, with 10 students, represented the Kingdom of Morocco and had a formal briefing with their ambassador at the Moroccan Embassy. At the conference, they received multiple awards and were recognized for outstanding performance—Stuart and Adrian Stancil-Martin, a first-year student from New York City, won the Position Paper Award. Lawrence's team won Honorable Delegation.
The Model UN team poses for a photo in Washington, D.C.
“It felt grounding,” Velez said. “One of the delegates we talked to was involved in Model UN when she was in high school. If this is a career path you want to go down, it is beneficial in honing the path to success.”
The team also was able to explore DC with fellow committee members. They explored the National Mall and saw the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and visited the nearby museums like the Natural History Museum.
"That's not an experience most people get to have," Stuart said.
Stuart helped restart the Model UN club along with Paola Saldana Galvan ’24 and Grace Smith ’23 a few years ago. Velez and others joined with enthusiasm.
“We live in a globalized community and a globalized world,” Velez said. “We are globalized citizens. We should get involved and get to know each other.”
Examine pressing issues of international security, challenges of political economies, and the influence of international institutions.
Model UN simulations engage hundreds of thousands of students each year, helping them to learn more about the principles of the United Nations and how it functions. Students role-play as delegates from different countries, working together to solve global issues. The Model UN website notes that many leaders in law, government, business, and the arts, including at the UN itself, participated in Model UN as students.
While coursework at Lawrence has helped Stuart understand international relations, he knows that his knowledge and connections would not be where they are today without his involvement in Model UN.
“Learning how the full structure works gives me an understanding of how international relations works and lets me practice it in a way coursework can't,” he said.
Stuart said that much of the information gained while at conferences and trainings is both historical and localized, making all he learns relevant to his future pursuits.
“You also get to develop communication and public speaking skills,” he said. “It’s an exciting thing that I really love.”
Both Velez and Stuart said they plan to use what they have gained through Model UN in their future career pursuits. Velez, who plans to go into international law, has focused her attention on consulting for humanitarian organizations and working with federal agencies.
“Model UN allows you to get immersed in the culture, and learn how a lot of it is bureaucracy,” she said.
In her time at Lawrence, Velez has learned how to network, organize funding, refine research, and lead a team to victory.
Velez and Stuart believe that Lawrence’s Model UN team draws its strength from its independent nature—it is student led—and the close-knit community of its members. Due to Lawrence’s trimester calendar and the club drawing students from various majors, Model UN at Lawrence runs on a much different schedule than at many schools.
“We arrange our travel, learn how to research, train our fellow students, and figure out all the nitty gritty details to make conferences happen,” Stuart said. “As a relatively small school, we really are the ones who are pushing this forward in a way that's unique.”
Velez is excited to see the club evolve now that it’s regained its traction.
“We are very proud of how much the club has grown,” she said. “It’s a resource for all kinds of students of all different majors and interests. It’s all about being global.”
