News Post

Visitation's Model United Nations club took its delegates to NAIMUN last weekend, the North American Invitational for Model UN, led by Georgetown University.

"Students can draw on their theology and history curriculum at Visitation to navigate questions about the role of multinational organizations such as the UN to inform their research and character during massive events like NAIMUN," said moderator Dr. Luke O'Connell.

For freshman Victoria, it was her first, and she was excited to meet people from around the country and even internationally. "I enjoy learning new techniques of debate and the thrilling crisis updates in committee," she said. 

She felt prepared from her work with club leaders. "The club’s leaders have been so helpful through their advice and support for my first year of NAIMUN. It was challenging figuring out the best way to create a strong crisis arc and argument," said Victoria. "Leadership was so kind and available throughout the whole process by answering questions at any time, editing position papers, and teaching the common knowledge of motions in committee. So excited for next year!"

Junior Ella shared that NAIMUN taught her about being proactive in discussions. In her committee meetings, she ran into what is called "power delegates." These students would silence others and put others' ideas down. Putting principles of Salesian dialogue into action, Ella found the best way to respond was with gentle strength. "My partner and I suppressed their overpowering in a nice way and tried to maintain good relationships with all the delegates," she said.

Club president Oleena '26 participated in a committee called McCrisis in Moscow: American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, 1994, which discussed navigating "western expansion and influence as a whole through the globalization of McDonald's in Russia. Simultaneously, we worked to preserve Russia’s culture while balancing its economic and social needs after the detrimental effects of shock therapy on Russia’s economy by the Yeltsin administration," she shared. Together, they tackled questions like: "Should we give more power to foreign entities and utilize western economic models that have brought those countries success? Should we revert back to the communism that worked in the past? How do we meet our citizens’ diverse needs as quickly and safely as possible?," she noted.

Oleena was honored with a first-place Best Delegate award for her committee, which O'Connell shared is rare. She described hearing her name as "surreal." 

"The awards are read aloud from least to greatest, and since I hadn’t won a previous award at this competition before, I felt discouraged as each name was read. When mine came out in first place, I was so in shock that I don’t think I fully processed till the next day," Oleena said "In my mind, all four years of hard work really flooded through. As a club president, to see the growth of this club really meant the world to me, and I felt like the award represented more than just individual accomplishment."

O'Connell echoed this, saying, "I am most proud of this year's student leaders growing the team to such a massive size. At this point, one in five Visitation students practiced, attended meetings, or went to a Model UN conference during their time at Visitation. The club has served as a place for intellectual curiosity and growth, and has matured to a place where tryouts will be necessary next year to narrow the team to focus on developing girls with real commitment to the club."

Oleena stressed how important past NAIMUN participation had been in receiving an award. She was "filled with passion" after her first opportunity four years ago.  "At the heart of Model UN is the art of diplomacy. Competitions can get overwhelming, with every person wanting to speak or get their ideas across. What really made this time different was that I was able to understand that the point was not to be the most dominant in the room, but rather a leader who listened to everyone’s voice, collaborated with people outside my usual ideas, and was able to communicate and create action items based on these findings as efficiently as possible," she said. "The true art to winning was understanding the balance of showcasing personal talent, while simultaneously showing your ability to sit back and let those around you thrive, as well to show a united front that prioritized teamwork over individual achievement. Once you learn the framework of Model UN, this give and take attitude is what can take you to the podium for awards because at the end of the day, one person can’t solve world issues; only a team with the ability to compromise, or form a consensus can."