Reaction NY NHSMUN: Evanna Corona van Vliet

Reaction to the New York National High School Model United Nations 2016

 After participating in the process, I can say that if anyone is capable of resolving the political, economic and social issues that plague our world, it is the UN. The delegates were all extremely passionate and well prepared, which leads me to have faith in our generation again. We will be able to do something good for the world.

While I'm writing this, we are sitting in the taxi on the way back to the airport with a phone using driver and most of the passengers falling asleep and drowning in luggage. I'm looking out at the fading skyline of Manhattan, and I'm thinking about how fulfilling these past six days have been.

It all started with the arrival in the city, which was amazing. We landed at JFK and were driven into Manhattan. The skyscrapers towered above us, and as we stepped out of the taxi, the biting New York wind welcomed us.

The first few days, we went sightseeing around the city, went to the top of the One World, walked around Central Park, ate amazing food, and gained a new appreciation for museums. We visited the MET, the Guggenheim, the MoMA, and a small private array of paintings at the FRICK collection.



At the actual sessions, I learned a lot about UN procedure and protocol, as well as about our topic. We debated and made draft resolution papers, and in the end, after the amendments, we voted on the two resolution papers that dealt with the issue of Censorship of Mass Media most effectively.

I felt I grew tremendously as a person during this trip. It was an eye opening experience to be part of a process of an institution as great, reputable, and well known as the United Nations. I feel this was also partly due to the fact that we met students from many parts of the world: California, Nigeria, Colombia, Egypt, and Mexicans too. In addition to finally getting to know the City of Dreams in all its eccentricity, something which I've wanted to do since I was little, the experience of being a delegate in a model UN session was inspiring.

After participating in the process, I can say that if anyone is capable of resolving the political, economic and social issues that plague our world, it is the UN. The delegates were all extremely passionate and well prepared, which leads me to have faith in our generation again. We will be able to do something good for the world. I learned to challenge myself, and I, to my surprise, overcame my nervousness of speaking to large audiences.

As for the city, I enjoyed it to the fullest. The first day was beautiful and sunny, and in one of the last days, it snowed. I think that this change in scenery was what made our trip extra special. One of the highlights for me was when we woke up that day and looked out at the skyscrapers from our hotel window and saw tiny snowflakes drifting down onto the yellow cabs and New Yorkers and hot dog stands.Then, in between the two sessions of that same day, Jimena and I escaped out to Central Park, which was just two blocks away from the hotel, and were suddenly immersed in white.

It was a completely different world; the leaves and branches were coated white, and the scene was absolutely breathtaking. We ran around like little kids, threw snowballs while freezing our fingers off, and took pictures of ourselves with a few Japanese tourists.

Central Park on its own is already beautiful, but Central Park covered in snow is even better.

 In conclusion, our trip went above and beyond all my expectations. I can't wait to go back to the beautiful mess that New York City is.

Evanna Corona Van Vliet, CCH 2