ODU Hosts 37th Annual Model United Nations Conference

More than 70 Old Dominion students LED over 1,000 students from local and regional high schools in a simulation of the United Nations last weekend.

The 37th annual Model United Nations Conference began Friday and continued through Sunday at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel. It is ODU's largest off-campus student activity; students from more than 50 high schools participated in the weekend's activities.

The theme of this year's conference was Unity. ODU's Model UN Society wanted to emphasize the importance of the United Nations in every individual's human rights and welfare while calling attention to the significance of every sovereign state, no matter how large or small, and the need to join together to resolve global issues.

For the 2014 event, the UN General Assembly and crisis committees were revamped for unprecedented realism and intensity. In addition, a new body, the United Nations World Conference, was added along with future and historical crisis simulations.

Delegates "can once again look forward to the most realistic and professionally organized UN simulation anywhere," wrote Gulshan Chattha, the conference's secretary-general, in a welcome letter to participants. "We are proud to continue a tradition of bringing together the region's best schools and brightest students for an engaging, stimulating and memorable educational experience."

Established in 1977, ODU's Model UN Society is an organization of undergraduate and graduate students who engage in mock United Nations role-playing conferences with other academic institutions across the country. The society's mission is to promote global, multicultural education and leadership experience through experiential learning, stressing student participation in simulation conferences and academic classes.

For more background on the ODU conference, visit the Model UN Society.