NEWS
The team participated in a national conference with about 200 other schools from March 29 to April 1. Chapman won best position paper and awards in General Assembly Plenary and General Assembly First Committee.
The Model U.N. is a simulation of U.N. delegates who are given countries and non-government organizations to represent.
At conferences, they discuss topics and must diplomatically come to solutions for specific problems according to their country’s political and diplomatic stances and views.
Committees then vote which delegates are most diplomatic, said senior Patricia Victorio, a delegate who won a General Assembly Plenary award with junior Mark Johnston.
“I approach this as a learning experience,” said Don Will, professor and Model U.N. adviser. “There are some professors that make it like a mock trial debate. I don’t like it when it becomes a competitive event.”
Each delegation writes papers that explain its representative country’s position on issues like disarmament and women’s rights. Despite Cuba’s strained political relationship with countries like the U.S., the team was able to receive one of fifteen best position paper awards.
The Model U.N. conferences are also set up like the real U.N. The delegations are separated into four groups from largest to smallest: General Assembly Plenary, General Assembly First Committee, General Assembly Second Committee and General Assembly Third Committee. Four of Chapman’s 16 delegates won awards for the first two committees.
Although Chapman won in competitive events, it didn’t win top honors, much to Will’s surprise.
“These are two of the biggest and challenging committees in the conference, so it’s a bit unusual that we didn’t win [some of the highest awards],” Will said.
In the second half of the conference, California State University, Fullerton also represented Cuba and received an honorable mention.
Judges rank delegations in three groups: Outstanding, superior and honorable mention. Delegations are placed into these groups in no particular order. Cal State Fullerton was placed into the honorable mention group, which groups the top 40 to 60 delegations together.
Because the conference is located at the U.N. buildings in New York, it usually allows student delegations to be briefed by actual representatives from each country. However, due to charity events for Haiti, Chapman’s team was not briefed by Cuba’s representative diplomat, Will said.
The conference brings together about 200 schools from about 50 different countries. So many people listening to you speak is intimidating, Victorio said.
This is her second year as a delegate, and she faced about 300 people in the General Assembly Plenary.
“There’s a lot of strong personalities, so it gets a little scary,” she said. “But it was easy this year because I had a partner.”
Sophomore Katherine Wilcox and senior Doug Arsenealt won the other award for General Assembly First Committee.
“It was kind of a shock because we were in a huge group,” Wilcox said. “You’re not allowed to react or clap after speeches, but after I gave my speech the entire committee [of about 200 people] burst into applause.”
Wilcox’s 90-second speech was about disarmament and focused on Cuba’s critical view of the U.S.
Although it is hard work, student delegates think the Model U.N. is important to today’s international relationships.
“I think people don’t quite understand the value of the U.N.,” Wilcox said. “It’s important to see what other countries think and see why it’s important for the U.S. to uphold what it says.”
Contact this reporter: crystal.saavedra@thepantheronline.com
