The year is 2030, and a huge alien spacecraft hurtles toward Earth. Efforts to communicate with it have failed, so no one knows the intentions of its occupants. Are they reaching out in friendship -- or invading the planet?

That's the scenario faced by members of the Knox College Model United Nations Club and other Knox students when the club organized a simulation exercise called "Encounter: First Alien Contact" during spring term.

All participants adopted one of the personas that organizers created. One student took on the role of the U.S. president, and another student portrayed the Russian president. Some of the other characters included a fourth-grade teacher, officials from the Chinese and Indian space agencies, and the director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute.

The characters debated how to respond to the spacecraft. Some favored taking military action, and others opposed it.

While role-playing, students had to consider the duties and responsibilities of their adopted personas, explained Tawni Sasaki ‘16, co-president of Knox Model UN.

"The great thing about the alien invasion scenario is that it did not require extensive background knowledge on foreign affairs or politics for people to participate," she added.

Organizers Elliot Witt ‘16 and Doug Hulsether ‘16 designed and led the Encounter simulation, incorporating details that made the crisis scenario seem realistic. A "news ticker" displayed the day's headlines, such as "Canada to evaluate the potential threat of extraterrestrial ship." The room lights dimmed after an announcement that the spacecraft had fired an electromagnetic pulse at the UN meeting facility, knocking out its electricity. (Witt created the photo composite at the top of the page. Norm Winick '74 took the unaltered photo of Old Main.)

"I really wanted to make this as immersive an experience as possible," Witt said. "I hope this raised Model UN's profile on campus by letting people know that we don't just sit around in a dusty room talking about politics. We actually can do some pretty awesome things that the whole campus would enjoy."

Hulsether said that as the club's vice president, part of his job is to ensure that Knox Model UN members are "ready to go" when they attend a conference. Crisis simulations are an important way to prepare.

With the Encounter simulation, he said, "I wanted people to feel like they had a stake in the events that were happening. I also wanted the (existing) members of the club to have an experience where they could practice their Model UN skills in an environment that pretty closely reflects what it's like to go into a committee room at a conference and compete against 15 other experienced delegates."

Sasaki said the Knox Model UN Club provides a platform for students to collaborate and solve a wide range of problems, such as a theoretical space invasion or a theoretical political dispute.

She added: "I think the Model United Nations at Knox gives students the opportunity not only to expand their knowledge of current events and make them applicable to our everyday life, but also work on building valuable skills, such as quick thinking, public speaking, and working with others."