Woodbury heads to Chicago without his patented Armani Suits

Model UN (MUN): the epicenter for nerds. A place where you take on extra homework and take the time to consider scheduling a therapy appointment or at least trying a stress management class.
Now, imagine you have been working for months to learn and figure out the ins and outs of Model UN to compete against people from all over the world. Take that image and think about sitting in a grand ballroom with over 3,000 people around you. This is your competition. This is our competition. This is where we show them who we are. A small-town school from Minnesota will compete in one of the largest cities in America against students worldwide.
This is MUNUC 35, one of the biggest international Model UN conferences; we are about to face it head-on.
On Wednesday, February 1st, 50 students from Cambridge-Isanti High School left Minnesota’s cold briskness to compete in Chicago, Illinois, for a conference that we had been training for months. The hotel we were staying at connected to the conference center, where all of our committees were being held, and tunnels connected to the hotel led to many different food restaurant options that came in handy for our meals. We got to the hotel and settled in; however, there was one little problem: someone forgot their suit bag at home (*cough* Mr.Woodbury *cough*). Trying to find the quickest solution, Mr.Woodbury had his suit bags shipped as soon as possible and even did express overnight shipping. How hard is it to ship a suit bag overnight between 2 states? It’s hard because that suit bag is still on the run, trying to find where Mr.Woodbury is. It is currently at the hotel in Chicago where we were staying, five days too late.
When Thursday rolled around, it was game time. We had spent most of our day at the Museum of Science and Industry outside of Chicago. We explored many interesting things ranging from an old German U-Boat to figuring out how to mind control a ball better than your opponent. After our highly educational trip to the museum and a very informative law and order on who owns the iPhone games, Mancala and Cup Pong. (In case you were wondering, Mr.Hayft is currently a father because Addison and Gabe can’t say two words without creating an argument). Finally, we came back to the hotel to get ready for the start of a conference that would later change many people’s MUN experience. We took our seats in the grand ballroom that continued and scouted the other schools we would later compete against. After the introductions and rules, we dispersed and knew it was game time. For many delegates in our delegation, this conference would either be the first time they spoke in front of tens to hundreds of people or their first time competing alone.
On Friday, our MUN tradition always gets Chicago’s famous deep-dish pizza from Giordanos Pizza. It is hands down some of the best pizza I have ever had in my life. After the committee, we were expected to head back up to HQ to debrief and get some amazing food. However, some people clearly cannot do math because we ran out of pizza. I mean, some people only had a slice of the meat pepperoni. Savannah Stennet, this is an apology to you that you only got one piece of pepperoni, and we will find these pizza thieves and make them pay up. Also, I want to thank our sponsors, Barbie, Ken, and Barbie’s friends, for making someone’s night and morning in Chicago a night they will never forget. (You’re welcome, Gabe, and PS, the Barbie dreamhouse for your girlfriends is currently in Mr. Filley’s room). Going into Saturday, it was the day where you wrap up your committees and use it as your last chance to impress the “judges.”
From helping refugees worldwide through country crises to creating rabid llamas to help fight a war and “All Hail Nicki Minaj,” our delegates could leave the conference knowing they did their best. With that being said, we did not come home empty-handed. Laynie Olson (Sophomore) and Samantha Kinnunen (Junior) both won honorable mentions in their committees. In addition, Gavin Mcdonald and Quinn Donegan, both Juniors, received verbal accommodations. In total, we came home with four awards ranking 14th out of 115 schools worldwide. It’s safe to assume that we are just a bunch of nerds. However, we are some good nerds to place that high at an international conference. In the end, we would say goodbye to 6 outstanding seniors leaving a huge and positive impact on this MUN program and will make the world a better place.
Signing off,
Mr. Woodbury’s suit bag from Juneau, Alaska. #LONGLIVETHENREDHERD.