Award streak continues for Wright State’s Model United Nations team

Wright State’s Model UN team was named an Outstanding Delegation at the national conference in New York City.

For the 38th consecutive year, Wright State University’s Model United Nations team earned a delegation award at the annual national conference in New York City.

Representing Italy this year, the Wright State team was named an Outstanding Delegation — the highest honor — at the National Model UN Conference on March 19-23.

Wright State students also won six Outstanding Position Paper awards and two peer-selected Outstanding Delegate in Committee Awards.

Outstanding Position Paper winners:

• Alex Oxner and Garrett Teets: General Assembly, first committee
• Christian Cooper and Deki Peldon: General Assembly, second committee
• Pamala Michael and Annalecia Heironimus: General Assembly, third committee
• Dan Palmer and Dan Bowman: Security Council
• Allyson Clark and Sam Pugh: Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
• Jakob Puckett and Rahima Nour-Hamadi: Economic and Social Council

Outstanding Delegates in Committee Award winners:

• Porter Lyons and Sarah Upton: Environmental Assembly
• Csongor Bajnoczki and Stepanie Patino-Garfias: High Commissioner for Refugees

During the Model United Nations conference, students participate as delegates to various UN committees. The participants research and formulate political positions based on the actual policies of the countries they represent.

At Wright State, preparation for the conference involves more than just writing papers and learning a country’s national policy. Delegates are taught how to implement a country’s policy, how to dress, how to act in committee and what to expect from other countries they will work with in committee.

The year’s team benefited from a significant influx of new members, thanks to stepped-up recruiting efforts by returning students, said Amanda Baker, one of the team’s head delegates. Each returning team member not only mentored two to four new students, they also read more background guides and edited more papers than previous years.

“That’s what the team’s success really comes down to, I think,” said Baker, who is in the Master’s Program in International and Comparative Politics. “It was the willingness of the returning delegates to adapt to new rules and guidelines and spend more time teaching more people.”

“We couldn’t have done it without the cooperation of the team and our professors who were willing to work with our hectic schedules,” Baker added.

Vaughn Shannon, associate professor of political science, and Liam Anderson, professor of political science, are the team’s faculty advisers.

The 2017 team includes head delegates Amanda Baker and Cody Smith and student members Csongor Bajnoczki, Daniel Bowman, Crystal Burns, Allyson Clark, Peyton Clark, Christian Cooper, Annalecia Heironimus, Caroline Hoffman, Autumn Kern, Jarod Kiser, Porter Lyons, Pamala Michael, Rahima Nour-Hamadi, Alex Oxner, Dan Palmer, Stephanie Patino-Garfias, Deki Peldon, Jakob Puckett, Samantha Pugh, Tony Riedel, Sarah Upton and Nickii Webb.