On February 28, a Tuesday, the Parker Model United Nations team of eighteen students and two adult chaperones departed for “ScotMun” in Edinburgh, Scotland. After months of preparation and armed with position papers and research, the eighteen delegates were finally ready to take on the international conference.  Turns out that of the thirty-eight competitors, Parker’s were the youngest.

Every year, the team’s faculty advisor, Upper School history teacher Jeanne Barr, takes a group of students on an international trip to attend a conference. While searching through dozens of conferences to attend, Barr had current anti-Americanism in mind. “A new factor we had to think about was where are the places that we really shouldn’t be travelling as a large loud group of Americans, and where are places we feel relatively safe,” Barr said. “Scotland was a little bit of that equation.”

With its low crime rate, Edinburgh was one of the safest options based on the current social climate around the globe. “To the school’s great credit, there has not been a shutdown of international travel,” Barr said. “We still really value how global connections and the ability to meet people face to face enhances the educational program here.”

Edinburgh was a hit with Model UN captain and junior Olivia Levine. “The city was great, it was pretty easy to get to, they have all of the same services you would get in the United States,” Levine said. “ScotMUN was a great fit.”

The conference itself began on Friday, March 3 and lasted until Sunday, March 5. With participants from over thirty-eight universities from all over the globe, Parker found itself as one of only two high school teams. “The level of discourse is higher, but it doesn’t necessarily put us at a disadvantage,” Model UN captain and senior Josh Kaufman said before departing. “Parker kids do have a lot of experience.”

Kaufman was placed in the European Council Committee. In it, he debated A United European Army as a means to strengthen foreign policy and what direction the EU takes post-Brexit.

Though Kaufman took a confident standpoint, Barr was more modest with her expectations. “I was not expecting our group to get honors because they’re the youngest ones there, but they did,” Barr said. “I think it was terrific and a very cool reflection of how prepared they were.”

At the closing ceremony of the conference, awards were presented to five of the Parker delegates by the chairs of their committee. Sophomore Felicia Miller, senior Sydney Benjamin and junior Grace Buono all got Honorable Mention awards, while senior Marc Tarshis and freshman Lindsay Carlin won Distinguishable Delegate awards.

Carlin, at just age fourteen, was the youngest delegate at the entire conference. Many delegates were twenty-one year-old university seniors.  Some were graduate students.  According to Buono, one of the delegates was 27.

“I was not expecting to win an award,” Carlin said. “I was really nervous going into the conference, but as the conference progressed, I was definitely aware of myself improving.”

Carlin was put in the World Food Programme Committee. In it, debates were held on Agricultural Capacity Development and Resilience in Regions vulnerable to Climate-Change and

Food Access Nexus among conflict displaced communities/refugees.

Though not all Parker competitors were rewarded for their hard work, it was still a highly rewarding experience for freshman Natalie Daskal. “The conference really taught us that we are good enough and strong enough to compete with anyone,” Daskal said. “It really inspired all of us.”