No name calling, no threats. Teenage diplomats made the University of Southern Maine their training ground for a more respectful brand of statecraft.
“I’m optimistic in seeing them,” said Dr. Rebecca Gibbons, associate professor of Political Science.
Gibbons works with her Poli-Sci colleague, Dr. Tim Ruback, as co-directors of the annual Maine Model United Nations Conference (MeMUNC). This year’s session ran from May 14-16 at USM’s Gorham Campus. The event drew 435 students from 26 high schools. Most of them came from Maine, along with one school each from New Hampshire and Vermont.
Students took on the roles of delegates at a mock diplomatic summit. They split into seven committees and acted out realistic scenarios ranging from trade negotiations to military posturing.
Damien Nguyen is a senior at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. As the Pakistani delegate at MeMUNC’s International Maritime Organization, his goal was to minimize the influence of Western nations in Southeast Asia.
The debates and dealmaking at MeMUNC are good practice for Nguyen’s future plans. He wants to study Political Science in college, then get a job at a think tank or maybe even the real United Nations.
“I want us to work toward a more cooperative environment for different nations,” said Nguyen. “I’m from Vietnam. And I’m hoping that maybe U.S.-Vietnamese relations will get better and we become closer allies.”
A few doors down the hall from maritime talks, a different debate was raging in the Historical Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Delegates imagined themselves back in the 1990s as the former Yugoslavia descended into civil war along ethnic lines.
Shelby Goodwin advocated for Poland’s interests in the Balkans. She’s a junior at Gray-New Gloucester High School. While some of her peers spoke sparingly, Goodwin welcomed the debate as a chance to improve her confidence and poise at public speaking. She also saw the virtue of building empathy by taking other viewpoints into account.
“I do hope to see change in how we deal with conflict and our willingness to share resources,” said Goodwin. “I think that a willingness to provide funding to those who are less fortunate is a great step in the direction of securing peace internationally.”
The scenarios that Goodwin and her fellow delegates acted out were based on real demographics and historical precedents. However, they weren’t expected to recreate the status quo. The point was to think creatively and improvise.
Regardless of how far their solutions strayed from reality, students displayed a keen awareness of national and world news. They competed in a friendly trivia contest about current events on the opening night of the conference. Almost every question got a quick answer. The topics could be sobering even as the students cheered their wins.
“Their generation faces a lot of challenges,” said Gibbons. “I can’t imagine that that’s not on their minds whether it’s climate change, political polarization, rising tensions with great powers, the wars that are going on in the world right now, humanitarian crises. There is a lot.”
It’s a big job to keep so many sharp minds challenged. Gibbons and Ruback relied on help from their college-level students in USM’s Political Science program to act as committee moderators and advisors. Most of the Poly-Sci majors are only a few years older than the delegates, which makes it easy for them to relate to each other.
As chairperson of MeMUNC’s Historical Commission, Ella Coull kept close watch on the delegates’ diplomatic wrangling. Coull is a Poly-Sci major in her third year at USM. She banged her gavel with authority but later admitted to feeling nervous about her leadership role. The delegates impressed her with their confidence, and she tried to respond in kind.
“I’m hoping that these kids, if they grow up to be leaders in society, I hope that everyone is willing to listen to one another and be able to settle and compromise with each other instead of just sticking to one side,” said Coull.
Delegates heard more about the fields they were emulating from a couple of expert visitors. Matthew Emmick, executive director of USM’s Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education, spoke at the opening ceremony. The Scontras Center was a leading sponsor of MeMUNC. The closing ceremony speakers was Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry.
Many of the students who grew close over their three days together exchanged contact information and promised to stay in touch. As Gibbons sees it, their curiosity to learn about new people from new places is crucial for building a better world.
“Many of these transnational challenges cannot be solved by an individual nation alone. They just can’t,” said Gibbons. “Recognizing that all countries have to play a role in solving these challenges, I hope (the delegates) take some of the skills they learned here and bring them to their next adventure.”