PUNC

At the beginning of the semester I joined a club known as the Penn State International Affairs and Debate Association, or PSIADA. A few representatives of the club had given my dorm floor a short promotion to join and, seeing others write down their names and thinking the club sounded interesting and applicable to my intended major (International Politics), I signed myself up.

Walking to my first PSIADA meeting I wondered who from my floor would be there or whom else I would know. I also wondered what being in the club meant doing.

I didn’t recognize a single face at the club meeting, and I wasn’t sure what to do or to whom I could direct my numerous questions. “Oh, Claire! What have you gotten yourself into?” I asked myself.

The Secretary General of the club, Ellisse walked over to welcome me and then introduced me to a former secretary general who explained the club and what it does.

PSIADA is a student-run organization comprised of students with a variety of majors and participates in Model United Nations style competitions in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, each spring the club hosts its own competition, the Pennsylvania United Nations Conference, also known as PUNC. Quickly approaching, this competition was the focus of PSIADA. It meant preparing separate committees in which delegates from visiting schools could debate issues.

I ended up joining the World at Crossroads: UN SC 2060 committee as a crisis member. Essentially in this committee delegates were to debate presented futuristic situations based upon perceptions of the 2060 world. I, as a crisis member, was stationed in another room with my committee members, responding to delegates’ requests and creating updates for the futuristic situations while the chair of our committee, Dan, mediated the delegates’ discussion in the other room.

The conference began on Thursday, February 23. Over 120 students came form a variety of universities, including Queen’s University in Montréal, Cornell, University of Pittsburg, and the University of Maryland. Our conference began with opening remarks from PUNC’s board followed by the keynote speaker and former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley.

Following the opening ceremony, we started our first crisis session. Working alongside crisis teams from other committees, my 2060 crisis team and I worked together to respond to delegates’ notes and come up with new crises for them to debate and solve. It was fun being creative and, as mean as it sounds, working with others to make it difficult for the delegates to reach a solution.

We continued to do this at different sessions throughout the weekend. I loved the fast, creative pace of the crisis room while being able to laugh mischievously and tell a country that 30,000 of its citizens have been infected with a futuristic and deadly virus. Over the course of the weekend I got to know my committee members, other members of PSIADA and students from visiting schools.

My committee members, (above, from left to right) Anmol, Jack, Dan, Mrithul, and Sanjana and I worked to come up with crises for student delegates to solve. 

Overall the weekend was a really fun experience. I loved the creative and fast-paced crisis room and getting to know others. I’d never been to a conference or anything like PUNC, and, although at the beginning it was intimidating and confusing, joining the club and participating in the conference has thus far been a good experience. I look forward to continue participating in PSIADA in the future!