CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — “It’s very enlightening,” Mia Bayuzick said. “We’re usually set in one mindset, so it’s nice to think outside of the box.”

Bayuzick could barely hold back her excitement. Meeting new faces and experiencing Pittsburgh’s culture were just a few memories she’ll always treasure from her trip — one that began only a year ago for Cambridge Springs Junior-Senior High School students.

With Bayuzick’s initiative and the help of Angela Erickson, a Cambridge Springs 11th- and 12th-grade teacher, plans for a Model United Nations team at the school quickly became a reality.

“I was the one who set it up at the school,” Bayuzick said. “I asked Mrs. Erickson to be an adviser. She and I had to find six members for the first year. It was hard at first to find people to join. The first year was like an observation and it has gotten better since.”

Ten Cambridge Springs students, including Bayuzick, joined more than 500 other students for the recent

Model U.N. Conference at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Last November, the Cambridge Springs team also competed in the Model U.N. Conference at Gannon University in Erie.

In Model U.N., students take on roles as foreign diplomats and participate in a simulated session of an intergovernmental organization. Participants research a country, serve as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult and then develop solutions to world problems.

As a second-year adviser for the Cambridge Springs Model U.N. team, Erickson said the program is open to all high school students, even though many seniors choose to participate. Erickson teaches several courses, including government, psychology, sociology, civil war and contemporary issues. The students wrote extensive position papers about their countries to research different perspectives.

“These are academic students who are putting in hours and hours at a time to devote their time,” Erickson said. “I feel they deserve as much recognition as athletes. This experience will benefit them in college.”

“I hope students understand other cultures and look at views from all aspects, as well as how to speak in large groups and develop techniques for researching,” she said. “It’s all about the experience and letting them see new places.”

At Carnegie Mellon, the Cambridge Springs team represented Saudi Arabia and Italy, while one of the students served on the crisis committee as the Russian eastern commander of the Army.

“I was the only one from Cambridge Springs that was on the crisis committee,” said senior Erin Bogda. “I was part of the Russian cabinet in the Russo-Japanese War. We had to go through war steps and come to a consensus of how war would end and how we’d handle it.”

Junior Rachel Numes, who represented Italy, prepared to address several issues at the event, such as treatment of spies and North Korean refuges. “It’s a good experience to learn about another country,” she said. “I learned how to work better with others. With Model U.N., you get to talk about real issues.”

Senior Katelyn Comstock, who represented Saudi Arabia, said the most difficult part was researching the topics. “Saudi Arabia’s views were very different from the United States, so it’s hard to get in that mindset of how to present their views.”