MUN for all, all for MUN

McLean’s Model United Nations team finds success at national conference

Maren Kranking, Editor-in-Chief|November 18, 2018

Seniors of the McLean Model United Nations team pose with awards received at VAMUN on Nov. 18. The team was very successful, receiving many individual awards at the conference. (photo courtesy of Maria McHugo)

This past weekend, members of McLean’s Model United Nations (MUN) team competed at the Virginia Model United Nations (VAMUN) Conference hosted by the University of Virginia. The team arrived upon campus on Friday, participating in the conference through Sunday afternoon. This is the first national conference that the team has attended so far this year.

Before each conference, members of McLean MUN prepare position papers pertaining to topics for the committee that they are assigned to, and during the event such topics are debated among participants. Delegates then must write a resolution paper discussing how they would solve the issue presented by the discussed topic.

At VAMUN, McLean’s team received the Outstanding Large School award for its overall delegate performance during the event. Many students received individual awards as well.

“McLean did phenomenally,” junior Sophie Howery said. “We brought 24 delegates, in which 21 of them placed.”

Four awards were given to McLean students for Best Delegation, for both team and individual performances; recipients included Sarah Gu, Sophie Howery, Zoe Lynes and James McHugo, and Neha Rana and Noor Al-Saloum.

Some students received honors this past weekend as first-time national conference attendees, such as freshman Cynthia Ma and junior Isaac Lamoreaux; they placed second in their novice committee as partners, receiving a conference-wide Outstanding Delegation award.

McLean’s Model United Nations team poses with their awards on Nov. 18 following the conference. 21 of the 24 McLean delegates who attended the conference received honors. (photo courtesy of Maria McHugo)

“I think we were able to do so well due to our weekly training meetings and our strong bond as a team,” Howery said. “Everyone is always helping other team members out. Having received a lot of help from our former presidents [who are] now in college, it’s nice to return the favor to underclassmen and novices.”

Despite McLean MUN’s copious awards garnered from the conference, for sophomore Samir Chowdhury, the most rewarding part about the weekend was the experiences he gained.

“My favorite part of MUN is learning about a topic through different perspectives and then working together towards a common goal,” Chowdhury said. “Since VAMUN was a national conference, I was exposed to a lot more interesting and unique ideas.”

McLean MUN’s next conference is in December at Thomas Edison High School, in which any McLean student can participate. As students begin preparation for the next event, Howery looks forward to a promising future for the team.

“I am really excited to see how McLean MUN progresses this year,” Howery said. “We have a great amount of interested sophomores and freshmen that will definitely help bolster our team.”

For more information on McLean’s Model United Nations team or to sign up, email [email protected].