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National High School Model United Nations 2015
HLPF
A NOTE ON THE NHSMUN DIFFERENCE
Esteemed Faculty and Delegates,
Hello and welcome to NHSMUN 2015! My name is Lily O’Connell, and I am this year’s Director-
General. I hope you are as excited as I am to experience the conference. Our staff has been working
all year to ensure that you have an engaging, educational, and rewarding experience in committee.
NHSMUN strives to assure that the quality of our debate and in-committee interaction is
unmatched. NHSMUN focuses on the educational value of Model UN. We believe that the
experiences in our committee rooms extend skills originally developed in the classroom, and prepare
students to become future leaders. NHSMUN thrives on well-researched, realistic, and diplomatic
debate. We are thrilled with the substantive program for NHSMUN 2015 and look forward to
vibrant discussion and cooperation.
NHSMUN Practices
In order to fulfill our mission, our conference has adopted practices that are key to the continued
tradition of excellence in our committees and the NHSMUN difference.
NHSMUN prohibits the usage of personal electronics during committee in order to ensure that
delegates do not gain an unfair advantage in debate. We feel strongly that the interpersonal
connections made during debate are enhanced by face-to-face communication. Enforcing a strict no
laptops policy also helps us to ensure that all our delegates have an equal opportunity to succeed in
committee.
The Dais is permitted a laptop for the purposes of communicating with respective Under-Secretary-
Generals and other Senior Staff Members as well as attending to administrative needs. The Dais will
only be limited to using their laptops for NHSMUN purposes, and the majority of their focus will be
on the needs of the committee. In addition, we staff a dedicated team in our office to assist in typing
and formatting draft resolutions and working papers so that committee time can be focused on
discussion and compromise.
An additional difference that delegates may notice about NHSMUN is the committee pacing. While
each BG contains two topic selections, NHSMUN committees will strive to have a fruitful
discussion on and produce resolutions on a single topic; prioritizing the quality of discussion over
quantity of topics addressed. In order to respect the gravity of the issues being discussed at our
conference as well as the intellect of our delegates, NHSMUN committees will focus on addressing
one topic in-depth. BGs contain two topics in order to allow delegates to decide what problem
ought to be prioritized, a valuable discussion in and of itself, and to safeguard against the possibility
that an issue will be independently resolved before conference.
NHSMUN uses a set of the Rules of Procedure that is standardized across all IMUNA-brand
conferences. These rules provide a standardized system of operation that is easily translated across
committee or conference lines. While the general structure and flow of committee will be familiar to
any delegate who has previously participated in Model UN, there may be slight procedural
differences from other conferences. All delegates are encouraged to review the Rules of Procedure
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