Have you ever wondered what the job of the United Nations entails? Or thought you may want to work for them?

SMU students don’t need to travel across the country to get involved: The Model UN on campus gives students the opportunity to learn all about the work of the United Nations.

Although it is an organization that some people may not know about, the SMU Model United Nations Team is well known internationally. The team consists of 12 students who serve as delegates. These delegates participate in about four conferences annually (two per semester), one of which one takes place internationally.

As delegates, they attend these conferences to represent a designated country in various UN committees.

Similar to the protocol of the actual United Nations, these students compete with various schools from all over the country to enact policies that combat issues such as the global water crisis, economic meltdown and environmental concerns.

This spring, the team is traveling all the way to Taiwan to represent SMU and compete against some of the top schools in the nation—Harvard, Georgetown, Yale and Oxford.

“Working with other university teams including Harvard, Georgetown and Oxford has not only helped me grow, but has also shown that SMU students can hold their own with the very best colleges and students nationally and globally,” president of Model United Nations Nicola Muchnikoff said.

Along with the delegate’s excitement for the trip to Taiwan, the students are also diligently working.

“Preparation for these conferences is very strenuous and time consuming,” Model UN delegate Danna Osama said.

The team meets on a regular basis with extended hours to discuss conference details, exchange research, practice speeches, draft and edit resolutions and current events. But that is only the first part of a yearlong preparation journey.

A month prior to the conference, the team is assigned a country by the hosting university. Then, each of the delegates is placed on a committee to research specific information about the designated country.

At this stage, they have to research absolutely everything possible about the country. This includes information such as the geography, allies, past UN actions and issues ranging from politics to economics of that particular country.

The delegates are not only required to research the information but must also apply their critical thinking skills to draw accurate conclusions about the possible opinion of the country on specific topics.

After they finish gathering the research, they begin drafting resolutions that outline the country’s position and contains detailed suggestions for change and solution. These have to be done in advance because they usually need to be submitted prior to attending the conference.

Once the team finishes the extensive works outlined above, they are ready to put their efforts to test by traveling to the world conference in Taiwan this year.

Although attending the world conference is a huge honor for everyone, finding the money is not.  And this is exactly where the SMUMUN stands. The delegates are doing everything they can to cover the expense for their trip by selling pizza, setting up donation boxes, hosting contests and much more.

Fundraising events they have arranged are still insufficient to cover the cost of the trip and the delegates are reaching out to the student body for help.  The team is accepting donations at Dedman College, Hughes Trigg, Fondren Library and Carr Collins every day until March 3.

“Attending these conferences isn’t just an opportunity for each of us to meet new people and express our interest in politics and foreign affairs, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to represent the potential of this great school we attend,” Osama said.

After tirelessly working for two semesters, the team cannot imagine not having the money to pay for the trip.

“We have the potential, we have the material and we have the experience. It would be shamefully disappointing to each and every one of us to not be able to attend this conference in Taiwan simply because of financial reasons,” Osama said.