The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Model United Nations (BRMUN) club served as the host to its second returning member mock conference of the year.

The event took place on March 1 and 8 after school in the 800 building from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

The purpose of this mock conference was to give members experience of what it would be like to participate in a real conference. Students acted as delegates of the World Health Organization (WHO), sharing solutions and collaborating. The committee’s topic was “containing and providing aid to underdeveloped countries in the HIV/AIDS outbreak.”

The delegates were given roughly two weeks of preparation in order to submit a position paper on the first day of the conference. These position papers contain research on knowledge about the global issue, their assigned country’s stance and their proposed solutions in detail.

Over the two days of the mock, delegates debated their country’s stance, formed alliances with other countries and wrote resolutions with other delegates. Some of the main subtopics debated and brought up in the resolutions were educating underdeveloped nations about the diseases, spreading awareness about AIDS and menstrual health and innovating technologies to prevent an outbreak.

After each delegate explained their country’s stance and came to a consensus, they formed alliances called “blocs” with other countries. The purpose of these “blocs” was to collaborate on possible resolutions for the topic.

The two main “blocs” that formed were named “ICARE” and “ERA.” The “ICARE” bloc was led by sophomores Ananya Gupta, who was the delegate of Vietnam; Nandini Kuppachi, the delegate of Australia; and Agastya Shahane, the delegate of Canada. The “ERA” bloc was led by sophomores Ayushmaan Mukherjee, delegate of Mongolia; Viraaj Marathe, delegate of Laos; and Marko Gvozdenovic, delegate of Bangladesh.

The “blocs” proposed their resolutions to the chairs, the club officers moderating the conference, which would later be voted on through a parliamentary procedure where each delegate would vote on the given resolution paper. In the background, upperclassmen officers not participating in the mock took time to grade position papers, give feedback to delegates and take note of delegates’ performances.

The mock concluded on the second day with awards handed out to three delegates. Sophomores Agastya Shahane, representing Canada, got an Honorable Mention; Ronak Hunashimarad, representing Taiwan, won the Outstanding Delegate Award; and Ananya Gupta, representing Vietnam, won the Best Delegate Award.

Agastya Shahane reflected on the event as a whole.

“The mock was a very fun and fulfilling experience! I got to reinforce and show my skills in MUN that I have acquired over the past two years,” he said.

The returning member mock served as a valuable opportunity for club members to continue their involvement in the club, enhance their public speaking and diplomacy skills and refresh delegates about the parliamentary procedure of real Model UN conferences.

The next approaching conferences are the National High School Model UN Conference (NHSMUN) on March 13-16 and the North Brunswick Township High School Model UN Conference (NBTHSMUNC) on March 23. The officer mock will be the last mock of the year, planned for April 12, and will be crucial for members looking to become club officers next year.