By: Keira McNiff, Maia Oberg, Hayden Shay, Sofie Stumme-Hanson, Harper O’Dowd, Alex Jacobsen, Willa Taylor, Clara Thompson, Emmett Goss, Tamarack Brohaugh, James Williams, Vivian Turbak, Sahara Peters and Beena Reiter

Last week our group of 25 5th and 6th-year students went to New York City to participate Montessori Model United Nations. We spent most of this year preparing for this trip. We had to research and write positions papers on our topics and prepare speeches to give to our committee groups. The topics that we had to learn about were real-world problems that we had to find solutions for.

GRS represented Croatia, The State of Kuwait, and the Russian Federation. We were joined by students from other countries and had to work together to write a draft resolution and then vote to make it a final resolution. We went to committee six hours each day. On our last day we got to go to the real United Nations and sit in the general assembly hall where the real UN delegates sit! Four GRS students were chosen to speak at the UN. This was an amazing experience!

While the work was hard, we had a lot of fun. We ate New York street food, we got to do the Macarena to Wavin’ Flag with Alexander Star, listened to 13 year old DJs Amira and Kayla and danced the night away! We went to Central Park and played tag. We got to stay in a huge hotel called the Marriot Marquis in Times Square that had 45 floors and was next to the Hamilton theater! We had an amazing time and it was a life changing experience!