Moorestown Friends Students Host Seventh Quaker Model UN Conference
View more photos from QMUNC VII
Over 130 students from 10 schools descended on the Moorestown Friends School campus on Sunday, November 3 to attend the seventh Quaker Model UN Conference, planned and executed entirely by Moorestown Friends School students. The all-day conference was broken into six committee sessions, all led by Secretaries-General Maya DeAndrea ’25 and Charlotte Nesevich ’25, along with Undersecretary for Crisis Luke Iacono ’25. Kicking off the event was keynote speaker Mukul Bakhshi, Chief Global Affairs Officer at CGFNS, Inc. Nine MFS students received special recognition as part of Closing Ceremonies (see below).
Conference delegates were from the following schools:
- The Agnes Irwin School
- Friends’ Central School
- George School
- Great Valley High School
- Moorestown Friends School
- Moorestown Township High School
- New Egypt High School
- The Peddie School
- William Penn Charter School
- Upper Darby High School
The many visitors enjoyed their experience at this unique Model UN conference.
“I enjoyed meeting people from other schools at QMUNC and learning about their views on current events,” said Sean from Penn Charter.
Students also enjoyed the unique and interesting topics. “There was a diversity of topics at QMUNC that weren’t just generic topics you typically find at Model UN conferences,” said Emma from George School. She values the skills she has developed during her Model UN experience. “Model UN conferences help you develop a lot of different skills – research, communication, public speaking, and more,” she said.
Upper School History Teacher and MFS Model UN Advisor Clark Thomson provided a summary of the event for the community:
The MFS Model UN team gathered at 9 a.m. on Saturday to set up for Sunday’s conference. They transformed ordinary classrooms into committee rooms which would tackle some pressing global issues like piracy, the impact of fast fashion, and how the Kardashians can improve viewership. For the first time QMUNC is offering a joint historical crisis involving the Battle of Stalingrad.
Students from the 10 attending schools began registering at 7:30 a.m. Charlotte and Maya and all the committee chairs handled this process with amazing dexterity, ushering every delegate to their committee rooms to drop off materials before Opening Ceremonies. The keynote speaker, Mukul Bakhshi (Chief global affairs officer at CGFNS), discussed his role certifying nurses to be able to work across borders to fill the needs of nations internationally. He highlighted the issues with visas which can create a decade-long wait for nurses from some nations to be allowed entrance to others. There is no uniform policy. At 9 a.m., Maya and Charlotte gaveled QMUNC VII into session and 130 delegates from 10 schools headed off to committees. The press arrived. Two intrepid reporters, Erika Capella ’27 and Sara Mammadova ’28 from the world renowned MFS publication Wordsworth, documented the entire day.
The day ended well for everyone with the message repeated by our Secretaries General – Model UN is not about the awards. It is about the experience. Everyone benefitted.
Committee Chairs (all MFS students)
- Ethan Cohen ’26 & Rohan Dhulipalla ’27: International Maritime Organization (IMO)
- Zaydan Lalani ’26 & Maya Litinesky ’27: ICONS (International Conference of Nuclear Security)
- Sophia Lalani ’25 & Ava Patel ’25: Keeping up with the Kardashians (KUWTK)
- East Zheng ’26 & Livia Kam ’26: UN Environmental Program (UNEP)
- Ali Sabir ’26 & Aodhan DiPalma ’27: Historical JCC, the Battle of Stalingrad, USSR
- Mason Levens ’25 & Andrew Zhou ’25: Historical JCC, the Battle of Stalingrad, Germany
Secretariat
- Maya DeAndrea ’25 & Charlotte Nesevich ’25: Secretaries General
- Luke Ianono ’25: Undersecretary Of Crisis
MFS Students Who Received Special Recognition:
Best Delegate
- Zahra Mammadova ’28, ICONS
- Trent Iacono ’28, IMO
- Emmie Huynh ’27, UNEP
- Bodhi Vance-Harris ’26, KUWTK
Outstanding Delegate
- Matthew Diaz ’28, ICONS
- Jaya Lawrence-Gupta ’26, UNEP
- Olivia Arzu ’27, Germany JCC
- Arjun Khandhar ’27, USSR JCC
Most Improved
Aryanna Dalal ’28, KUWTK
Click here to read more about the Moorestown Friends School Model UN program and hear from Model UN alumni who still use the skills they developed as part of MFS Model UN.