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Although I had never done Model United Nations in high school, I was super excited about the prospect of starting it here at Dartmouth. And so, during our club fair held on the Green, I signed up for Dartmouth's MUN team, what we call DartMUN.

a large group of people standing outside Rockefeller Center
The DartMUN team!

Our preparation began week three of Fall term, where we worked as a committee to create background guides for the over 400 high school delegates that would be attending our conference. I was part of the Historical Joint Crisis Committee (HJCC), and we decided to look at the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. We would meet weekly, and also have socials, such as cabin night at a cabin owned by Dartmouth about twenty minutes.

Winter term mainly consisted of training—looking at parliamentary procedure, how to deal with setbacks that arise and backroom crisis training. As part of the backroom, our job is to create character arcs and steer the storyline of the committee. I would say it's the most fun part of MUN. We get to influence the committee how we want, keeping the delegates on their toes.

a gavel that says 'Best Delegate, Boxer Rebellion, DartMUN XVII'
The "Best Delegate" gavel

Our conference was the first weekend of this spring term, lasting Friday through Sunday. In preparation for this, we compiled booklets, got the rooms ready, and ran last-minute logistic checks to ensure everything was running smoothly. Our opening ceremony was Friday evening, followed by our first committee session. In this session, we tried to steer the committee true to what actually happened during the Boxer Rebellion, with varying degrees of success.

 a pile of notepads on a table
Some of the crisis notes our delegates wrote to us

Over the course of the next two days, HJCC Boxer Rebellion had a successful yet fun and chaotic weekend. There was no shortage of internal intrigue and communication between the delegates. We began with two sides in direct conflict, and in running a historical simulation, our nearly 40 delegates arrived at a dramatically different outcome. There were assassinations, trials, and sly espionage. The Empress Dowager was a successful businesswoman, their chair was ousted unceremoniously and memorialized in a national holiday, and there were coups left and right. J-Pop was invented for propaganda. The Russian Revolution came more than a decade early. The Boxer committee was so cool that multiple delegates jumped ship. Despite all the organized chaos, the delegates successfully came together and found peace at the end of the day. Delegates always came to the committee with an open mind, a willingness to collaborate, and very, very creative solutions.

a person with a red top and yellow skirt
Our chair reincarnated as Winnie the Pooh

Part of DartMUN was to fundraise for a local charity. With a target of $250 in our committee, if our delegates reached that, our chairs would pie each other in the face. The challenge was accepted and completed.

two people putting pie in each other's faces
Pie-ing in process

All in all, it was a successful, albeit tiring, weekend. I am already looking forward to DartMUN 2026, and seeing what wild, brilliant, and unexpected twists next year's delegates will bring to the table.

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