The Trojan War: Roleplayed by High Schoolers

There is comfort in not speaking. In not having to voice your thoughts in a large room with everyone’s gaze upon you. I found comfort in blending in with the background and letting other people voice my thoughts and letting my true loud self out alongside my friends. This all changed, however, in my senior year MUN Class.

Model United Nations is an AP class alongside AP Research I took in my senior year of high school. I chose to take the class as it was advertised as an AP unlike any others. It didn’t follow the same rubric the other classes had. MUN is a student-led class that competes in nationwide conferences that focuses on discussing issues from the perspective of other people or nations. I had been in the class for over a year already but had not participated in any conference for fear of having to talk and it not going well. Unfortunately though there was a new rule my senior year. I would have to attend an out of school conference for my grade; no matter what my wishes were.

Columbia University—my first conference was going to be in Columbia University. As I stared at my options of committees my gaze drew down to the words in bold ‘Crisis Committees’. Numerous people in my class, far more experienced than me, had previously voiced how challenging a crisis can be as it requires you to basically roleplay as different characters in a fictional situation, but all I could think was ‘If I have to do a conference I’d rather it be a fun one’. Out of the crisis committee options my attention was drawn to ‘Trojan War’. It brought me back to the days in middle school when I’d sit in front of my laptop watching Greek Mythologies play out on YouTube. Most of the tales were hazy nowadays but I could still recount flashes of them. However even with my past knowledge I had never learned about the Trojan War as I found books like the “Iliad” far too complex and long for my 12 year old brain, but as my hand moved and checked the box next to the Trojan War it seems my brain had finally developed enough for it. 

The Trojan War as originally told in the Iliad is a tale centered around a war that broke out between Troy and the Greeks after Paris, the prince of Troy, abducted Queen Helen of Sparta. In a mission to retrieve her the King of Sparta enlisted all the great Greek heroes to help. The war lasted 10 years and finally ended when the Greeks pretended to withdraw, leaving behind a large wooden horse with a group of Greeks concealed inside. When the Trojans brought the horse into their city, the hidden Greeks opened the gates and took over Troy resulting in their victory. I was appointed the role of the Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom, Athena. The ‘crisis’ in this situation was broken down into two sides, the people in support of Troy or the people in support of Sparta, with everyone assigned a different character from the original myth. This conference wasn’t one I was supposed to look deep into, however, the myth was so enthralling I threw myself into learning as much as I could about it. I looked into every hero and God/Goddess’s individual story as I rekindled my old interest. I couldn’t help it, it had simply been too much fun and before I knew it I had pages of notes for the conference and too many thoughts to remain quiet. 

The day of the conference had finally arrived. My conference took place in a small building on Columbia’s campus. The room was completely made of wood with detailed carvings for decoration. Our dais, the person in charge of the committee and the one who decides the winner, was a MUN college student from Columbia. I chose a seat in front of the dais and started anxiously looking through my notes. I could feel my stomach churn from nervousness. Soon after about a dozen other kids took their own seats and the long awaited conference started. At first it had started slow and I didn’t want to speak up but I remembered my teacher’s words from earlier that morning, “You’re always gonna be afraid of speaking if you never do it. After you speak once it will come more naturally.” Combining my determination and wanting to make her proud I raise my hand and get up to speak. “My dear subjects we must not rest till Troy is in our hands! I the goddess of wisdom and war will lead us all to victory. What we must do is enter Troy without suspicion and take back Helen. I, using my godly powers can transform myself into Helen, take her position, and have her be returned.” Soon after everyone in the committee decided to work together to write our ideas down with me in charge. I talked to everyone smiling as I went and played into the fun situation I was given, forgetting all about the knots in my stomach and my previous nervousness. 

Six hours of conference passed in a breeze with me sneaking into the Troy room pretending to be Helen, signing a peace treaty with Sparta, and attending the wedding of Achilles and Patroclus (Yes that did happen) and before I could even register it my name had been called to receive the Outstanding Delegate award. I was beaming and grinning in happiness at having overcome my fear and spoke for everyone to see. I will never forget that day for the rest of my life as it helped me become the outspoken person I am today who will accept new challenges that come her way.