By Rebecca J. Flavin, lecturer in political science and Model UN advisor

On April 12-18, 16 Baylor students traveled to New York City to participate in the National Model United Nations Conference, which brings together more than 5,000 university students from around the world to participate in two week-long simulations of the United Nations. The NMUN conference is unique among Model UN conferences in that more than half of the attendees are from universities outside the United States.

Our students represented the nation of Belize at the conference, and they researched and discussed issues such as chemical weapons, agriculture development and food security, green transportation, sustainable production of biofuels and violence against women.

At the conference, our students excelled and represented Baylor well. While the learning experience is always the most important part of these conferences and awards are not the emphasis of the conference or our team, I am delighted to announce that the entire team was recognized as a “Distinguished Delegation.” Only a small percentage of delegations receive any recognition as an Outstanding, Distinguished or Honorable Mention Delegation at this conference, so this is a noteworthy achievement.

In addition to the team recognition, two of the position papers submitted to the conference were named an “Outstanding Position Paper” –- those for General Assembly Second Committee and General Assembly Third Committee. The position paper is a short policy memo, no more the two pages long, that is researched and prepared in advance of the conference. These papers are completed as part of the course requirements for Political Science 3375 and the club requirements for Model United Nations.

Authors of the award-winning General Assembly Second Committee paper were S.K. Alagbada, Matt DeMond, Michael Saporito, Seti Tesefay and Ren Young.

Authors of the award-winning General Assembly Third Committee paper were Lola Akere, Taylor Marie Hanson, Caitlin Prud’homme, Kristin Roland and Marc Webb.

On behalf of our students, I want to thank everyone for their continued support of Baylor Model UN. These conferences offer our students a unique opportunity to take the knowledge and skills they acquire in the classroom and apply them to simulated experiences similar to those they will encounter in their postgraduate careers.

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STUDENTS IN ABOVE PHOTO:

Top row (L to R): Ben Betner (senior, political science); Paul Schlaudraff (senior, Baylor Business Fellows/accounting); Tyler Kopas (Senior, Baylor Model United Nations head delegate, professional sales); Laura Beth Hooper (junior, Baylor Model United Nations assistant head delegate, international studies); Emily Brizzolara-Dove (junior, international studies); Rebekah Stryker (senior, political science); Tiffany Clark (MA in international relations); Sikiru Alagbada (senior, economics); Marc Webb (freshman, international studies); and Caleb Gunnels (junior, political science).

Bottom row (L to R): Ruth Anne Holiday (junior, international studies); Taylor Marie Hanson (senior, political science); Jessica Abbey (junior, journalism, public relations and new media); Mary Margaret Hambuchen (junior, journalism, public relations and new media); Renie Saenz (sophomore, history); and Ren Young (senior, political science).