By Ali Richardson, Staff Writer
Noah Jones, a junior at Hardin-Simmons University, is working on his degree in political science. He also serves as the president of Hardin-Simmons University Model United Nations program.
Jones explained what the Model UN is, and what they do at their conferences. “Generally, we put together conferences and go to conferences. What you do in Model UN is sit in a room with a bunch of people and try to solve problems. They generally range from world hunger to like city issues, like city squabbles and things like that. It depends on what kind of scenario you’re sitting inside of and they will normally tell you before you go in. You’re assigned a roll of either a country or an individual and basically, your job is to do what that country or person would do in that situation,” Jones said.
Jones shared how he became involved with the Model UN. “Through the Leadership studies programs, and that’s one of my minors. The other is legal studies. Generally, Dr. Patterson brought us to a conference at the University of Florida last year, and that was kind of when I was like ‘oh this is actually kind of fun.’ Because what we do is instead of doing regular Model United Nations, is we do an offset called Crisis Simulation. It’s basically a little more flexible and fun. I think it is more fun for everyone,” Jones said.
Jones shared about being tested on different things during the conference. “It’s good for our creativity to be tested as well as theirs. I like them to keep me guessing,” Jones said.
Jones explained what his favorite type of simulation they do at the conference. “What they call an ‘ad hock,’ it’s where you don’t know anything before you walk into the room, they just throw something randomly at you and you have to solve it. Because that really is like the best kind of thinking on your feet kind of thing,” Jones said.
Jones plans to continue his involvement in the community politically and also further his education after his time at Hardin-Simmons University.
“After this I am going to go to law school at University of Texas in Austin. I figure this is pretty good preparation for that stuff. I figure this is the one thing I really like doing on campus at the moment,” Jones said.
He is also involved in off campus groups as well that he believes are preparing him for his future. “Off campus I serve on a few government boards in Tye. I serve as the vice president of the Tye Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. It’s a really cool opportunity…Just recently I became the president of the Taylor County Young Democrats. Right now, we’re working on outreach and how to get others involved,” Jones said.