Westminster College attended the 34th annual American Model United Nations National Conference (AMUN) in Chicago last fall, bringing home an award for their representation of China.
This year 29 students traveled to Chicago to compete with thousands of students from over 70 colleges and universities. Westminster’s students represented China, Hungary and Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. Westminster has participated in the AMUN conference since 2009, making this the 15th consecutive year of attendance.
Westminster’s China delegation was represented on eight committees, while Hungary and North Korea each participated in five. Delegations were given several topics to pursue including humanitarian decisions for natural disasters, prohibition of development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons and more.
The four-day conference included committee meetings, press conferences, speeches and debates. Alliances were made between countries and resolutions were presented as topics became more involved. Emergency meetings were held day and night to mimic the actions of the actual United Nations with their procedures and unpredictable schedules.
Delegates McKenzie Means and Shannon Mullan won the Outstanding Delegation Award for their exceptional representation of China in the General Assembly, Second Committee.
“Within the four days of the conference, we wrote resolutions, gave many speeches, negotiated with other delegates and even held a press conference,” said Means, a sophomore political science major from Meadville, Pa. “I am so proud of the work Shannon and I completed and I am very grateful to be awarded an Outstanding Delegation Award for all our hard work throughout the conference.”
“We were extremely shocked about winning, we really struggled through the conference to get other delegates to cooperate,” said Mullan, an exchange student from Antrim, Northern Ireland. “However, perseverance, continuous speeches and continuous confidence in the committee room definitely paid off.”
Christina Loewe, a junior from Austin, Texas, is the president of Westminster’s Model UN organization and is double majoring in international studies and political science. The permanent head delegate this year was Victoria Valcarcel-Matos, a junior from Winter Springs, Fla., double majoring in marketing and professional sales and mathematics.
“I think that the most valuable thing about attending as president of the club and in a security council is all the practice we get in public speaking and overall building relationships with the other countries throughout negotiations with them,” said Loewe.