Model UN Club Recognized at Harvard and Chicago Conferences
April 06, 2008
Emmanuel College’s Model United Nations (UN) Club walked away from this year’s Harvard National Model UN Conference as one of just a handful of delegations recognized during the four day event held February 14th-17th at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston.
Andrew Ammon ’08 received the award for “Outstanding Delegate” at the yearly conference, which brings together nearly 3,000 representatives from the U.S. and students from over 30 countries to discuss some of the major challenges facing the world today. This was the first award won by the club at Harvard’s prestigious conference, with Northeastern University’s team representing the only other Boston-area school to earn recognition.
“I knew I wanted to try and get an award this year, I wanted to get some notoriety for the club and the College,” said Ammon. “Although it may have been myself on the committee, it was a team effort. My conference mates were all so helpful keeping me on my toes. This award is just as much theirs as it is mine.”
“Overall, this was our best performance thus far,” said Club Advisor and Assistant Professor of Political Science Petros Vamvakas. “I thought it was extraordinary for Andrew to win, it was great for his confidence, as well as the group overall. In this year’s group we have a number of seniors who have worked together for a long time and at times felt overwhelmed by the competition. This win was great reward for a lot of hard work…I’m extremely proud of every single member of this club.”
In just its second year as an official Student Government Association (SGA)-recognized organization, the Model UN Club has undergone considerable growth, thanks to the structure and direction put in place by Vamvakas and Club President Gustavo Perez ’08. Although the club has existed for a number of years simply as an interest group, both
Vamvakas and Perez have helped mold the Model UN into a fully functional unit through the establishment of regular weekly meetings, informational lectures, campus events and better overall preparation for conferences.
“Professor Vamvakas has been tremendous and Gustavo has helped us get more focused and organized,” said Ammon. “Next year’s president will have a solid foundation to build upon.”
For the Harvard conference, group members from Emmanuel represented the country of Bahrain and were responsible for completely immersing themselves in every aspect of the country. During the event, which according to the conference’s web site provided delegates “with a look at the functions and responsibilities of the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations by simulating various different committees within the organization,” delegates met for six sessions of three to four hours apiece, working towards drafting resolutions for the committee to eventually vote upon.
While in the past, Harvard’s has been the only conference the group has participated in, this year nine club members also took part in the Chicago Model United Nations Conference sponsored by the University of Chicago from March 6th-9th. A more unique simulation, the Chicago conference included a selection of present-day and historical committees, such as Henry the VIII’s Council, President Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet and Pope Alexander VI’s Advisory Committee for delegates to explore further, adding a theatrical element to the weekend’s events.
“It’s a different creature,” said Ammon of the conference. “It’s more about realizing a personification.”
Ammon followed up his Harvard performance with an equally impressive showing in Chicago, earning “Best Delegate” distinctions for his role as Solomon Foote in Lincoln’s Cabinet. In addition, Andres Enrique ’09 and Hannah Coache ’08 received “Verbal Commendations” in their committee representing Belize in the Organization of American States (OAS), while Umair Sami ’09 received the same award for his role representing Libya in the Security Council. Matt Hickey ’08, Izabela Chmielewska ’08, Erasmo Nunez ’10 Cecelia Auditore ’08 and Perez also participated in the conference and received special praise for their efforts by their advisor, who felt “everyone’s presentations and debate skills were great throughout the weekend.”
Considering the profound success of this year, moving forward, the club would like to participate in even more conferences on a yearly basis, with Perez saying he would like to see the group attend three to four events in the near future.
“The more conferences we attend, the more experience delegates get and the better prepared they will be,” he said. “The club has grown a lot but we still want even more people to join. The key is to be able to have a strong delegation from year to year and that has a lot to do with maintaining continuity and structure.
“But even if we only do two conferences a year, we want to do well in those two,” he added. “It’s important to have quality performances and give Emmanuel a good name.”
Besides setting the bar for individual performances next year, Ammon’s efforts at the Harvard conference are expected to reap rewards for future Emmanuel delegations through recognition, as members of the club anticipate a better country selection in the future. The chance to represent a more prominent country, mixed with the added confidence of its recent success, should prove helpful in the maturation process of the young club as a whole.
“I had a sense going into the conference that this was the most experienced and well-prepared group that we have had thus far,” said Vamvakas. “I think this is only the beginning. If we continue to build on what we’ve done this far, we will realize that this is only the ground floor.”