Worldly experience

Kids wearing freshly ironed suits underneath fluffy winter coats push their way onto escalators and down hallways. Eyes are frantically searching for someone with the same tag as the one they wear around their necks. They look at their watches, gasp at the time, and try to walk faster without dropping their stack of papers. Some disappear through wood doors, letting out a sigh of relief, while others continue their search. As they hear the clock’s bell ring one final time, they make their last attempt through the doors, but not all of them make it inside. The ones left outside walk slowly back to their teachers, their heads hanging low. Those of us who make it inside swipe on a fresh coat of lip gloss, straighten our ties and take our seats. 

My fellow Montessori Model United Nations delegates go silent as our current leader walks down the aisle, and we murmur muffled hellos while trying to slow down our heart rates. She calls us each up to deliver our perfectly memorized speeches on issues we’ve read so much about. They go on for hours, each one seemingly longer than the next, until the last speaker utters his “thank you,” and everyone runs out of the room to be reunited with friends.

By the second day, we have the system down. Students are taking the stairs, asking for directions, making friends with hotel staff who will let them use the service elevator. The speeches are shorter, and as we argue over solutions to the world’s greatest threats, we stop to listen to each other. By the end of the third day, we are hugging new friends, exchanging numbers, and loading suitcases onto already full busses. As we pull away, we exchange stories of what we learned and who we met.

This was my first year of participating in the Montessori Model United Nations conference, and I learned so much. I got to see how the real United Nations works, I practiced teamwork and speaking skills, and I learned more about prominent issues in our world. Overall, it was a fantastic experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

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