Students sweep Model UN awards
TWU recognized for Best Delegation
January 23, 2007
Angela Wiebe
Representatives for Trinity Western University received the top award at the recent University of British Columbia Model United Nations conference, beating out hundreds of other students from North America.
Representing the country Syria, students Craig Ketchum, Christopher Anquist, Adrian Reimer, Jennifer Bedford, and Trevor Lee received the award for Best Delegation at the conference, held in Vancouver from Jan. 11-14.
“TWU really, really did well,” said Ketchum, vice president of TWU’s Foreign Affairs Society (FAS), formerly the Lester B. Pearson Society.
At the competition, which involved more than 350 students from 25 schools across Canada and the United States. Overall, TWU received seven awards and one honourable mention out of the 18 awards presented at the competition.
“I was really proud of Trinity,” said Andrea Walker, who was awarded Best Diplomat in the United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO).
Also awarded were Ketchum as Best Delegate in the World Health Organization (WHO), Adrian Reimer as Best Delegate in UNSCO, Amy Mochar as Best Delegate in the Security Council (UNSC), Benjamin Linkewich as Best Delegate in the World Bank (WB), and Jacqueline Youm as Best Diplomat in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Acting as delegates for the countries Sudan, Belgium, and Syria, TWU students were assigned to committees, in which they debated with other country reps until coming up with a formal, written resolution. Students were also assigned particular topics to research over the Christmas break, such as alternative energy in Africa or world food security.
“It’s run exactly like the real UN,” Walker noted. “There are keynote speakers, committees…and parliamentary rules to follow. Everything is very formal.”
All participants were expected to attend the event dressed in business attire, and to have research prepared on countries’ issues and perspectives.
“You are representing other countries so you need to research issues and formulate an argument,” Ketchum commented. “You have to take the country’s stance on issues.”
“You have to swallow what you’d really like to do,” Walker added.
Although having prepared, some students were still caught off guard by surprise questioning.
“It is a very good experience,” Ketchum said of having to negotiate in a lifelike simulation of the UN. “It really makes you think on your feet [and] that’s where the awards come in.”
Although TWU students have participated in the annual event a number of times in the past, this year was only the second consecutive time in recent times, corresponding to the revival of the FAS in fall 2005. Ketchum said the group hopes to continue raising TWU’s profile at future Model UN events, and to educate students on international issues.
“It’s opening your eyes to a world that a lot of people our age aren’t all too familiar with,” Ketchum said of the UN simulations.
FAS members hope to spread their newfound knowledge to students from other schools as well, with the recent launch of the TWUMUN for high school students last October. Close to 40 students from local schools attended the two-day event at the TWU campus.
Already planning to hold a second event next fall, the FAS hopes to make it an annual affair.
For more information, visit www.twumun.com.
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