BC Model United Nations success in NYC

On March 30 – April 3, BC Model United Nations went to New York, N.Y. to compete in the Model United Nations New York Conference. BC MUN had many students take home winning titles and place in the top three in several different categories.
Leading up to the conference, BC MUN made sure to get practice in before the big New York conference. The group met up twice a week for both fall and winter quarters and attended two conferences closer to home in order to prepare for NYC. In November of 2013, they attended the Northwest Model United Nations conference in Seattle as well as the National Model United Nations conference in Portland during Feb. 14 – Feb. 16. Outside of participating in actual conferences, BC MUN also had a lot of at-home work that needed attention. “Students worked hard throughout the year researching Colombia, the committee they would be representing at the New York conference, the topics before their committee, the rules of procedure for the conference, etc. We also did a couple of simulations in class, practiced speeches, wrote position papers and drafted resolutions,” said Tim Jones, BC MUN adviser. Ellen Gilley, member
of BC MUN, was one of the students who took home an award. Both her and her partner won the position paper award, which is awarded to a paper that had to be submitted even before the conference began.
“The NY conference was an amazing opportunity with a lot of learning and a lot of hard work,” Gilley said. “I loved seeing NYC and I had a great time at the NMUN conference. I was in the fourth General Assembly committee, so we had our three topics that we had prepared for. At the conference, we set the agenda to which topic we wanted, then we tried to write resolutions that could be adopted by the committee. Our committee ended up adopting 11 out of 12 draft resolutions.”
MUN is for any student that is interested, and Jones has an idea of where he would like the class and team to be down the road. “Next year I would like to see us continue to perform well as a team,” Jones said. “This year at the three conferences that we attended we took home six position paper awards, one best delegate award and an honorable mention delegation award. I expect us to keep performing at the same high level next year. I’d also like my students to be able to attend the National Model United Nations Europe conference, which will take place in Rome, Italy in November 2014. This year was the first year that we didn’t attend an international conference in several years, and I would like the students next year to get to have that experience.” For anybody who doesn’t really know what MUN is all about, or isn’t sure whether or not it would be something worth joining, Gilley had a few words of advice:
“I think that if anyone is interested in politics, international relations, humanitarian affairs [or the] environment and sustainability, they should check out MUN. If any student wants to learn more about the United Nations, if any student wants practice in professional writing, public speaking or debate, they should join MUN. Of course, BC’s MUN is very academic and competitive, so every student should be prepared… Really, there is no other experience like MUN.”
As far as any events in the near future, BC MUN currently doesn’t have anything on the calendar, but keep an eye out for any announcements when they do occur.