The well-being of the world rested in the hands of 2,000 high-school students last Friday.
The students - who came from all over the U.S. - were participating in the 23rd annual Ivy League Model United Nations Conference, organized by the Penn International Affairs Association.
ILMUNC offers high-school students the opportunity to practice debating and solving global issues.
Throughout the conference - which began last Thursday and wrapped up yesterday - 2,000 students participated in a wide variety of mock UN sessions.
ILMUNC is the second-largest high-school Model United Nations conference in the country, and this year was the first time the event came to Penn's campus.
"The Conference's association with Penn has been loose in the past," College senior Gregg Geffen, the Secretary-General of ILMUNC, said.
Previously, all of the events were held at the Sheraton Philadelphia Center City Hotel.
This year, however, a Penn Day was added to the itinerary so that student-delegates had the opportunity to go on campus tours, attend information sessions and listen to panels of Penn students discuss the transition to college.
College sophomore and ILMUNC Undersecretary-General Charles Harris said bringing the student-delegates to Penn required months of planning and a staff of 150, but definitely increased the quality of the experience.
Some delegates debated the question of refugees, while others assumed the role of cabinet ministers working their way through historical crises like the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
Another unique aspect of this conference was the addition of a community-service component.
Two years ago, ILMUNC began the Franklin Legacy Program, for which it partners with a different community-service organization each year. This year's partner, PhilAbundance, fights hunger in the Delaware Valley. Delegations from each school brought canned food or made monetary donations to help the organization.
Geffen said he feels this program helps "give back to the global community that the students simulate during the conference."
The participating students from Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, S.C., braved a 12 hour bus ride to get to the conference.
Jessica Gibson, a high-school senior from Manhattan Beach, Calif., had to fly cross-country for the event but was impressed by Penn's campus and how well-organized the conference was.
Michelle Onorato, a high-school senior from Delaware, likewise said she had heard "great things about Penn," and thought this conference was "much better than Harvard's."
