On Nov. 15, 2025, Brighton High School’s Model United Nations team took a trip to Bloomfield Hills High School to participate in an annual conference hosted by SEMMUNA (Southeast Michigan Model United Nations Association).
The conference marked the first one of the year for the Model UN team and essentially served as their warm-up for this year’s season. The SEMMUNA conference is a highly adapted conference targeted to help develop the skills and experience of new Model UN delegates. It is, in essence, a beginner’s conference with more lenient and learning oriented processes and procedures.
That doesn’t mean that the advanced delegates don’t have fun; they still blow up people.
One thing about Model UN that many don’t know is the level of autonomy given to delegates during the conference. By this, they are allowed to essentially do anything they would be allowed to do in a real United Nations committee; this includes threats and resolutions, bombs and aid and tariffs and loans. One can also even, if their country has them, release nuclear weapons on other countries.
Senior Delaney Mullally said that in a previous year, they had a lot of fun with this.
“We blew up the United States,” Mullally said. “I forget why, but we did nuke them.”
This year at SEMMUNA, the topic of focus was the fast fashion epidemic. Delegates were asked to create plans to deal with various issues within the fast fashion industry. Encompassing everything from carbon dioxide emissions to supply chain management and labor practices, the conference helped first-timers learn the ropes and allowed varsity members have a little fun within their committees.
Freshman Avalyn Graham, for whom SEMMUNA was her first Model UN conference, said, “I think it went really well for my first time, and overall, it was a good experience.”
Graham also said that Model UN is already helping improve her public speaking skills. Since Model UN requires assertiveness and strong communication skills, it has given her and other delegates the opportunity to practice speaking in front of others. Due to its beginner-oriented nature, SEMMUNA in particular helped foster an environment where delegates felt comfortable sharing their countries’ opinions in front of others.
Plus, as several students noted, SEMMUNA gave them the opportunity to truly become acquainted with how Model UN actually works, an experience that regular club meetings can’t always provide.
“It was a lot of fun seeing everything in action, actually play out,” junior and fellow Model UN newcomer Emory Srock said.
While there were no awards at the conference, that doesn’t mean that the delegates walked away empty-handed. After long debates, resolution drafting and ultimately voting whether or not to adopt policies, the fast fashion discussion was closed, and a new topic arose: paper plate awards. Delegates were awarded paper plate awards at the discretion of the moderators, which included titles such as “Best Team Player,” “Most Abstentions” and, of course, “The Six-Seven Award.”
These paper plate awards wrapped up the long day at Bloomfield Hills High School, and the Brighton delegates now look forward to future conferences, including MedMUN (Metro Detroit Model United Nations) and a big trip to Chicago for MUNUC (Model United Nations of the University of Chicago).
Wrapping up, SEMMUNA was successful in ushering in the new wave of Brighton Model UN delegates this year, as it does every year. New delegates now have the experience for new conferences ahead, where they will have the opportunity to continue forging their diplomacy skills—and maybe even earn an award or two.
