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PA Model United Nations Club Hosts First In-Person Interscholastic MUN Conference Since 2019

Students from Andover High School, Phillips Academy, and Cushing Academy gathered in Kemper Auditorium to kick off the Phillips Academy Interscholastic Model United Nations conference (PAIMUN) on April 30. The conference took place between different country “delegations,” with delegates debating designated issues in committee in a parliamentary style. Delegates worked together to create “resolutions” that solved issues in their committee. 

Eirini Evangelinos ’23, president of Phillips Academy Model United Nations (PAMUN), spoke on her role in planning the conference leading up to the event. According to Evangelinos, much of her role included the administrative and logistical work leading up to the conference, as well as making sure that the conference and its participants were logistically in accordance with all school rules and policies.

“A lot of my role was the build-up to the conference. So it was a lot of putting everything together, chasing down Deans, shout-out to Dean Esty[, Dean of Students and Residential Life], for a lot of administrative stuff… There are a lot of new rules that have been stated in terms of bringing folks on the campus that nobody was really aware of… I led the effort to invite different schools, chasing them down, getting signups, and everything administrative leading up to the conference was sort of overseen by me.” said Evangelinos.

This year, PAIMUN saw over 30 attendees from three different schools, including Andover. Charles Vest ’25, a participant in the conference and a member of PAMUN, expressed how he enjoyed the scale of the conference. Charles explained that while he was accustomed to larger conferences, he enjoyed the smaller-scale format that PAIMUN introduced.

“I thought it was a fun conference. I thought we had a lot of good delegates both from Andover and the delegates who came from out of North Andover. I’m used to conferences that have dozens or even hundreds of people, so it was a little different having only nine people in [a] delegation, but I think it was a cool experience to have a much more… close-knit conference,” said Vest.

Elyse Goncalves ’23, the Director of Internal Affairs for PAMUN and a Secretary-General of PAIMUN, described how she felt the highlight of the event was seeing delegates’ efforts, particularly through the closing ceremony. This is Goncalves’s last high school MUN conference; she expressed how she still felt extremely excited seeing the dedication and effort brought by every delegate. 

“The way MUN is run is we have an opening and closing ceremony and then there’s a session of debate, a break in between for lunch, and then another session of debate. And so, at the very end of the day, it’s been a long day for delegates. At the end of the day, we got into our final session for the closing ceremony, and seeing everyone in that room was something that I had never seen before, students from other schools and stuff like that. I hadn’t really gotten the chance to experience that because I haven’t been to an in-person conference since middle school,” said Goncalves. 

She continued, “I got into that room and I was just so excited hearing everyone say their favorite elements of the day… It was an exhilarating thing to experience and was also heartwarming to know that other people appreciate this club as much as I have in my past seven or so years with it,” said Goncalves.