On December 8, 2021, 18 Parker students, accompanied by Upper School history teachers Jeanne Barr and Kevin Conlon, boarded a flight to San Francisco to compete against other schools at the annual San Francisco Model United Nations (SFMUN) conference. After the switch to virtual conferences for the 2020-21 school year, SFMUN is the first out-of-state conference the Model UN (MUN) team has attended since March 2020.

Every year, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, Parker MUN delegates attend at least two out-of-state conferences. Model UN captains, with the help of faculty advisors, select a group of MUN delegates to attend the conferences. 

SFMUN is a two day Model UN conference held annually in mid-December. The conference provides students the opportunity to debate against each other in different committees. According to the SFMUN website, the conference is “one of the Bay Area’s premier conferences and its location in San Francisco attracts delegates worldwide to participate in a MUN conference made by youth for youth.”

This year’s topic, the “The Resilience of Youth Leaders,” was selected by the organizers of the conference to highlight the “rise in civic engagement among youth, from self-organized Black Lives Matter protests to COVID-19 awareness efforts and advocacy…[and] to support and embody the example of our younger generations.” 

Parker’s delegates were surprised to learn that most other delegates were from the Bay Area, rather than from schools like Parker, which are able to have delegates travel. “SFMUN was meant to be a big conference with schools from across the country. For unknown reasons, many non-California schools were not in attendance leaving only Parker and another school from Washington (State) as the only schools not from the Bay Area,” SFMUN attendee, junior Luca Lennon said.

Despite the lack of geographic diversity, Parker students were pleased with the conference. SFMUN attendee, junior Kapil Chaudhari said that he “didn’t find that it was an issue that it was local, since the level of debate in my committee was quite good.” 

In addition to a lack of international students, the age range of SFMUN participants surprised many Parker SFMUN attendees. While delegates expected other high school students to compete, there was unanticipated participation by a middle school team. “We were unaware there would be middle schoolers at the conference,” SFMUN attendee, junior Drew Klauber said.

Some Parker students, as well as other high school attendees, competed against students as young as sixth grade. “I personally didn’t have anyone younger than a sophomore in my committee, so it wasn’t as much of an issue for me,” Chaudhari said. “However, I would say that we need to focus on high school only conferences.” 

Sophia Rosenkranz, Parker Model UN’s Director of Delegate Development, told “The Weekly” that the impact of the middle school participants was minimal. “It was dependent on the committee you were placed in,” Rosenkranz said.

At the conference, Parker won the second most awards. “We were unsure about how we would do as it was our first time going, but luckily we did well,” Parker Model UN Captain, junior Sadie Gallagher said. Parker won over 10 awards, the majority of which were awarded to freshmen and sophomores. 

“It was great because we had all worked really hard, so getting a reward made up for it,” SFMUN attendee, sophomore Krish Malhotra said.

While in San Francisco, the group explored numerous tourist sights. The group visited the Alcatraz prison, took a night tour of San Francisco, rode the famous cable cars, visited museums, and walked throughout the city to explore. “Going to Alcatraz and seeing San Francisco light up at night was really cool,” Malhotra said.

Following four busy days of debate and exploration, the 18 delegates returned to Chicago on December 13. “Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience this year on our San Francisco trip,” Klauber said. Rosenkranz added, “after two years of not traveling, the San Francisco trip was a great way to bring back travel into the Model UN program.”