Model UN will translate early success to a great year

As the world’s attention is turning to the stability of regional and global governing bodies, such as the European Union in the face of Brexit, the Model United Nations club is beginning their year with their first conference.

On Saturday, the Model UN club competed in its first conference, the Carl Sandburg Model United Nations Conference (CSMUN). Students represented delegations such as the United Nations Security Council or cabinet positions for the Guaido Venezuelan government. In addition to debating important issues, the conference also worked to teach new members about Model UN.

“CSMUN is a great conference for the beginning of the year,” Model UN sponsor Adam Gearing said. “It’s a great conference to teach kids the ins and outs of Model UN and parliamentary procedure (the format in which debate is conducted).”

The club has had great success at this conference in the past, and this year was no different. Seniors Jack Castanoli, Maya Wlodarczyk and Aaron Ludkowski all took home awards for their performances. Winning awards isn’t easy, but preparation and grit help position delegates for better results.

“During the committee session I took a bold stance,” Wlodarczyk said. “But I remained open to cooperation from my peers. I [also] looked at the most current news available and made sure all sources were credible.”

Following current events can play a significant role in debate performance, as many of the topics that are discussed revolve around current negotiations or issues affecting people around the world.

“The issues that we talk about at Model UN always follow what’s going on in the real world,” Ludkowski said. “My committee talked about the crisis in Venezuela, and some of the events that we talked about had happened just days before the conference.”

The constantly changing world helps each Model UN conference maintain its uniqueness by ensuring new issues and perspectives will arise, even on some of the same topics of debate. However, just as the news continues to the next story, the delegates will continue on to their next conferences. They will compete at Saint Ignatius High School in early November, and in early December will travel to Lansing, Michigan for a two-day conference. Both conferences have experienced students, ready to be successful in resolution writing and debating, but York’s delegation is confident in their ability to do well in the upcoming conferences and have a good year.

“I think the club has a lot of talent this year,” club president Nick Pomatto said. “The [executive] board is full of very passionate people trying to make the club as successful as possible. Going to CASC (the conference in Lansing) I think we have some great talent for a winning team.”