On Saturday, Dec. 1, the Gables Model United Nations (MUN) club hosted its first-ever Cavalier MUN. This conference was created to educate middle school students about global issues and involve them in finding possible solutions.

Four committees were available to the middle school students: the Historical Security Council (HSC) on the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Human Rights Council (HRC) on the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Genetically Modified Organisms and a Special Crisis Committee on the Death of Mickey Mouse (CDM). These various committees allowed students from all levels of experience to immerse themselves in the world of MUN. Months of planning went into this conference; the board began brainstorming in August and worked tirelessly until the day of the conference.

“At first, I was very apprehensive about the conference. As the day went on I saw how excited the delegates were, and I became very inspired and energized to make this a great conference,” senior Brianna Curran said.

The opening ceremony began with a speech from the President of Gables MUN, Cristian Ochoa, who spoke about his involvement in the conference as the Secretary-General. He then introduced Brianna Curran and Adriana Obeso, who served as the Attorney General and Executive Director respectively. Together, this trio pushed to make the conference possible, and they spoke about their experiences to the anxious delegates and staff.

Following the executive staff, the well-known Commissioner of District 5, Eileen Higgins, was the guest speaker at the conference. She spoke on the importance of diplomacy in a world plagued with cruel treatment of others. Higgins recalled the emotions she felt when she received a thank you letter from a war criminal; while deeply disturbed, she described the experience as being one of learning and personal growth and accredited the successful resolutions they reached to diplomacy.

Following the speech, the delegates broke into their committees to officially begin the first session. The delegates began discussions on the topics that pertained to their committee, but the Crisis Committee took a whole new direction. The CDM was composed of 13 delegates represented by different members of the Disney Cast members like Hercules and Minnie Mouse. They were tasked with finding who the murderer of Mickey Mouse was and who was going to replace him. After a heated trial where several delegates were interrogated, it turned out that every delegate had played a role in his death.

In HSC, heated debate and strong words filled the room as countries tried to find a solution to the pressing issue of nuclear war as if they were in 1962. Delegates were encouraged to come up with new and innovative solutions, and the USA and USSR surprised the room when they came together and surrendered most of their nuclear weapons. In the end, the committee took a surprise turn and went into a full-blown crisis- Switzerland had taken the nuclear weapons and wanted to destroy a P5 nation! USSR was eventually chosen as the victim, and the delegates laughed it off to de-stress after a day of high-caliber debate.

“The most exciting part about the committee was the author’s panel when I saw how my hard work and negotiation paid off. I enjoyed myself throughout the whole conference especially when the crisis situation regarding Switzerland was introduced,” conference attendee Sailasya Munamarty said.

After a brief lunch and a second committee session, the delegates were escorted back to the auditorium for the awards ceremony. Each committee was allotted five awards, and while the competition was fierce, the most skilled delegates stood out from the rest and earned awards for their hard work.

What was originally supposed to be a small conference to fulfill a community service component for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme ended up being a day of community and learning for delegates and dais alike. The MUN club aims to host another high-caliber conference next year that will be able to have the same quality committees that CavMUN I offered.