Dear delegates, staff, and families,
We hope that everyone is staying safe and practicing and putting into practice the guidelines outlined by the Center for Disease Control and the White House, the Illinois Governor’s Office, and DuPage County Health Department. We have some good news to share with you, we can guarantee a 100% refund to each delegate if Hyatt decides to close its meeting space in July. We would like to still provide a donation, if we are forced to cancel. Especially now more than ever. If we are forced to cancel, we will ask you to indicate what percentage refund you desire. Any fees not refunded will be donated entirely and directly to the World Food Programme to aid victims of the crises plaguing the Sahel region in Africa. If you would like to voluntarily report any travel (although local and federal government advise against travel at this time) please report it here: https://forms.gle/Ji9LPDzcTBntF3MWA As A Reminder (3/13): Hinsdale Model UN will be suspending all in-person activity, meetings, and sessions until March 30th and will operate under guideline and instruction regarding “schools” and “events” under federal, Illinois, and DuPage County guidelines. We will still operate online through h-mun.com, JotForm, Slack, ManageUN, and our staff will be able to answer your questions over the phone during the day and via email at all times. This means you may still register! Our overall concern level is still low at this current time, seeing the conference is a number of months away. We will continue to closely monitor the various updates from local, state and federal health organizations and agencies. We will continue to update you with further information and will continue to reassess. Zamaan Qureshi | Ammar Hussain
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Dear delegates, staff, and families,
On Friday, March 13, 2020 Governor JB Pritzker announced that the state of Illinois will close all schools from March 17 through March 30 of 2020. Hinsdale Model UN will be suspending all in-person activity, meetings, and sessions until March 30th and will operate under guideline and instruction regarding “schools” and “events” under federal, Illinois, and DuPage County guidelines. We will still operate online through h-mun.com, JotForm, Slack, ManageUN, and our staff will be able to answer your questions over the phone during the day and via email at all times. This means you may still register! Staff will continue to prepare for the conference as planned. All due dates still apply. All meetings between now and March 30th of 2020 will be conducted online with the platform TBD. We are waiting to hear back from Hyatt Hotels to ensure we can update our refund policy in the event that we have to cancel the conference. However, our overall concern level is sill low at this current time, seeing the conference is a number of months away. We will continue to closely monitor the various updates from local, state and federal health organizations and agencies. We will continue to update you with further information and will continue to reassess. Zamaan Qureshi | Ammar Hussain
Dear delegates, staff, and families,
In light of recent concerns surrounding COVID-19, we would like to emphasize our commitment to ensuring a safe, successful, and educational experience for all those involved. Hinsdale Model UN senior staff will be closely monitoring the developments regarding COVID-19. We are also working with Hyatt Hotels Corporation to update our refund policy if we are forced to cancel and will alert you as soon as we have made that decision. Having had extensive discussion amongst staff and having closely monitored local, state, and federal guidelines, our overall concern level is low at this current time, seeing the conference is still a number of months away. Hinsdale Model UN recognizes the fluidity of COVID-19 and its impact on hosting events in public spaces. As the H-MUN III conference and New Delegate training courses are due to take place in June and July of 2020, we are not yet able to make any determinations about cancellation or closure. We have been closely monitoring the various updates that health organizations and agencies:
Because there is no governing organization for Model UN (MUN) conferences, we will be monitoring the action of other local and national MUN conferences at this time and consult with local officials to assess the situation. We will also have to follow the direction of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation if they decide to take action closer to the date. We will continue to update you with future information and will continue to reassess. Zamaan Qureshi | Ammar Hussain
Qureshi said, explaining that those who enroll are assigned a member country. “It’s up to (participants) to do the research to project the values and the opinions of that country.”
The two are veterans of Central’s Model UN club and have taken part in many similar conferences. They recognized an opportunity to launch a conference when school’s out. “There’s no other conference over the summer, and that’s a time we want to make sure our students are staying involved,” Hussain said. Model UN has been formative training for Hussain personally. “I was really interested in world politics, and I’ve been to a number of different countries, so that interested me,” Hussain said. “I’ve definitely gained a much better understanding of the world as a whole.” Qureshi said the experience has also shaped him and brought him into contact with professional envoys and diplomats. That kind of networking helped secure the guest speaker for the conference, former U.S. ambassador to Canada David Jacobson. Last year’s first Hinsdale Model UN attracted about 50 delegates. This year they’re expecting to double that, a testament to the hours and energy they’ve dedicated to it. “When we first created it, I don’t think we thought we were going to become as big as we have or undertake as much as we did,” Qureshi said, noting they’ve grown from a two-man operation to having 15 staffers. A particular crisis is selected to be the focus of the conference. The Yemen civil war was chosen because it gets little press in the U.S. but is creating dire conditions for entire populations. Delegates choose to sit on committees, such as the Security Council or the World Health Organization, to address particular dimensions of the crisis. Registration fees are then donated to aid organizations in that region. The ultimate goal is to nurture faith that seemingly unsolvable situations can be resolved. “We have to keep pushing forward to try and make something happen,” Hussain said. That’s a lesson all can benefit from. “My personal hope is that kids who do partake in Model UN will take those skills somewhere down the road and apply them to issues that really need solving,” Qureshi said. H-MUN has confirmed:
H-MUN II has confirmed the committees for our second conference:
WHO - World Health Organization DISEC - Disarmament and International Security Committee UNSC - United Nations Security Council |
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