Westminster Sends Delegates to Yale Model U.N. Conference

Twenty-one Westminster students spent a memorable weekend gathering first-hand experience in international diplomacy at the Yale Model United Nations Conference (YMUN) Jan. 21-24. This was the second year in a row that Westminster sent delegates to YMUN, which draws students from more than 50 schools.

The Westminster delegates represented Austria and Indonesia and spent months rigorously preparing for their conference assignments. The Austrian delegation included Carolyn Zimmer ’11, Charlotte Stewart ’11, Simran Kaur ’12, Rene Jimenez ’11, Nabi Hassanzoy’10, Abby Huth ’12, Kiana Cateriano ’11, Rosie Williams ’12, Donald Sonn ’12 and Anthony Dépatie’10. And the Indonesian delegation included Ryan Smythe ’11, Ousseynou Tall ’12, Gavin McGovern ’11, Alex Chaffee ’12, Rebecca Wardell ’11, Maggie Hark ’12, Chris Sailor ’11 and Shishan Zhang ’11. English-Speaking Union student Brook Geremew ’10 also joined as a consultant to the group and assistant advisor.

While at Yale, the students participated in day and evening sessions of their committees and took advantage of Yale Day activities. They toured the campus, visited classes, had lunch with professors in the Commons Dining Hall and attended a dance for all of the delegates. A major highlight of the experience was hearing keynote speaker James O.C. Jonah, who served as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs from l992-94 after more than three decades in the U.N. Secretariat, speak about the role of the United Nations today and the current role of the United Nations in Haiti.

Jake Benedict ’11 and Vlad Bok ’10 applied for and were awarded positions on Specialized Committees that involved attending an all-night crisis meeting about the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

“Serving on a special committee is really an exciting piece of the YMUN event, and students have to apply for special committees and be chosen based on position papers submitted to the YMUN secretariat,” said English teacher Mollie Pilling, who coaches the Westminster Model United Nations participants and accompanied them to the conference. It was Vlad’s second year participating in a crisis meeting.

The Westminster delegation brought back three awards. Donald Sonn and Anthony Dépatie were named Honorable Delegates for excellence in representing Austria on the Security Council, and Nabi Hassanzoy won the coveted Outstanding Delegate Award for excellence in representing Austria on the Special Political and Decolonization Committee.

“All of the delegates shone in their committees, stepping up to speak, writing resolutions and caucusing, supported by research they had begun back in September and continued until moments before leaving the hotel for the site of their meetings,” added Mollie. “Even if the committees the students served on didn't come up with firm resolutions to solve problems that threaten our world, the dialogue and interaction broadened the students’ perspectives and honed their skills in articulating ideas.”

Westminster Chinese teacher Zhan Welcome also accompanied the students on the trip.