It’s been a whirlwind summer here at the MUN Institute! So far, we’ve run dozens of learning tracks with 500+ students, with even more to come in the next few weeks. This summer, we’ve had some of our most international classrooms in the history of our camps! With students from Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, France, China, Switzerland, Colombia, Mongolia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Belgium, India, the Netherlands, South Korea, and beyond, these programs have been truly global.
This article is the first in a series about what’s been going on at the MUN Institute this summer. Today, we’re focusing on our Crisis programs! In Crisis Model UN, delegates represent a person within a department or organization and respond to real-time developments.
Crisis MUN simulates how the highest levels of national government, from the White House to the Kremlin, respond to national security threats, including terrorism, natural disasters, and economic collapse. At the MUN Institute, crisis students are pushed out of their comfort zone to think on their feet, both critically and creatively, as they work together to quickly solve crisis after crisis.
MUN Mentor Bob Brown spoke about the MUN Institute’s commitment to teaching crisis committees the right way – “We offer the students consistent interactive simulations to make sure that they learn about every facet of crisis committees.” Crisis students participate in practice simulations on Tuesday and Wednesday of the program week, with a final full-day simulation on Friday.
“We also ensure that our students practice every type of MUN crisis that they might see, not just one type,” said Brown, a recent graduate of Michigan State University and a frequent staffer and participant in college-level crisis Model UN committees. Topics discussed this summer at the MUN Institute crisis programs in the past few weeks have included the Bay of Pigs, the Suez Canal Crisis, the Syrian Civil War, the Vietnam War, and Otpor! – a Serbian civic movement.
Check out photos below from this summer’s crisis programs!