Ruby Albert is a sophomore at Los Angeles’ Brentwood School. However, for four days in Evanston, Albert represented the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran in the League of Nations at the 21st annual Northwestern University Model United Nations conference.
The conference took place from Friday to Sunday at Norris University Center, where delegates attended six committee sessions, a college Q&A and a delegate dance.
Albert said this conference was her second NUMUN, and it was her favorite conference so far.
“The campus is so beautiful, the chairs are always so nice and I like their committees,” Albert said.
Albert’s committee, The League of Nations, is one of 15 committees at NU’s conference. The committees included historical international conflicts, current refugee issues and Theranos’ Board of Directors, which deals with the fallout of the infamous company that marketed fraudulent blood-testing devices.
NU students involved in NUMUN could pitch their ideas for committees, Weinberg senior and NUMUN Secretary-General Noah Blaisdell said.
According to Blaisdell, more than 650 student delegates registered for the conference. He said even though he and other NUMUN members began preparing for the event last spring, the planning process came with many difficulties.
“There’s lots of history and experiences that we can draw upon, but there’s new challenges every year,” Blaisdell said. “We like the challenges.”
Weinberg sophomore Zijin Zeng joined NUMUN during Fall Quarter and currently serves as vice chair of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Zeng said she had competed in Model UN for six years in China, but participating in NUMUN was “a totally different experience.”
“I had some expectations of how the conference would go before we started, but the delegates are always able to surprise me,” Zeng said. “I’m always meeting new people and learning new things doing NUMUN.”
Like Zeng, Albert said Model UN has been a learning experience for her, as she started attending conferences to overcome her fear of public speaking.
But Albert said she soon discovered a true passion for Model UN.
“It’s such a unique way to learn about what happened with the world, to be able to talk about it and not just read an article,” Albert said.
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