A makeshift headquarters consumes the empty hotel ballroom, where a row of business-clad individuals quickly type resolutions addressing Colombian drug trafficking and current tensions between Israel and Palestine.
But this is not some top-secret government agency - this is the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference's operational room, also known as "Ops." Inside, the Secretariat - student members of Penn's International Affairs Association responsible for this year's ILMUNC -- makes sure everything runs according to plan.
Over the weekend, the IAA held its 25th annual ILMUNC at the Sheraton Philadelphia Center City hotel. For four days each year, the conference brings together nearly 2,100 student delegates from 99 high schools across the world, hailing from as far as China and Puerto Rico, to take on international challenges - some of which the U.N. they're simulating hasn't even come close to tackling.
Presenting themselves not only as future diplomats and politicians but also as actors and actresses, student delegates at the podium dramatically fight for their country's cause or resolution.
Throwing around standard ILMUNC lingo - "DISEC" for the Disarmament and International Security committee, "WFP" for World Food Programme - the fa‡ade of the microphone and business-professional attire lend delegates an aura of maturity far beyond their adolescent years.
The powerhouse behind the conference, however, is the group of 332 Penn students responsible for conducting the large-scale, international affair.
College junior and ILMUNC Chief of Staff Dasha Barannik explained that preparations for this year's conference began last spring when the IAA chose the current Secretariat board and assigned students to lead individual committees.
Each committee chair and moderator selected two engaging debate topics, Barannik said. Committee heads then drafted a "background article," which was posted several months before the event for delegates to research their given topic.
College freshman and ILMUNC staff member Carey Shuffman emphasized the relevancy of the topics, noting that "committees typically select issues central to today's social and political atmosphere."
In one room of the General Assembly, or GA in ILMUNC-speak, a huddle of students colluded in whispers as a delegate presented her proposal. College senior Dan Eisenberg, the moderator, maintained order as the Trinidad and Tobago contingent booed a proposal.
After passing the floor to one of the delegates, Eisenberg took a seat alongside the Trinidadians and Tobagans.
"A really good chair will sit in the audience and talk to kids to get a better idea of what's going on," noted Shuffman.
During the entire committee session, students referred to as "pages" walked up and down the aisles, gripping tiny pieces of paper.
The pages, Shuffman explained, are students who volunteer to pass notes from one country to another. "That way students can communicate what they're working on or possibly collaborate amongst each other," she said.
However, these notes are not always put to intended use. College junior and GA chairwoman Aditi Kumar explained that the Haiti delegation had actually been showering her with love notes, along with the $3 "rose-grams" sold by ILMUNC staff.
At last count, College senior and GA chairman Stefanos Kasselakis was winning the tally for roses sent to chairs.
As moderator of one of the GA's specialized groups, Kasselakis worked primarily with freshmen or inexperienced delegates. In his room, whenever a student stood up to speak for the first time, the committee clapped to encourage the novice.
College sophomore and committee vice chairman Diego Hernandez Diaz explained that it's easy to befriend delegates. "When you're working with such a huge committee with so many personalities, there's a lot of good debate going on and you actually get close to the kids involved," he said.
In contrast to the larger assemblies, the conference also offered smaller, more specialized summit groups. Compared to the every-man-for-himself atmospheres of the GAs, these committees engaged in more intimate debate.
Delegates speaking under aliases like Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams in the "Continental Congress" discussed a hypothetical standing army in Philadelphia and an official response to the crisis.
College junior and Secretary General Eric Lemor noted the practical aspect of the conference, both for delegates and students in charge.
"It's great for getting out of the classroom and addressing topics through a different lens," he said.
However, College sophomore and Undersecretary General Abbey Stockstill admitted that things get hectic. Stockstill led the Crisis and Regional Summit's "midnight crisis," when staff woke delegates up at 12 a.m. to solve an international crisis that lasted until 6 a.m.
Stockstill, though, was still going strong at the time. "We're definitely running on adrenaline," she said with a smile. "It's how we make the conference as great as it is."
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