Of the 21 Chapel Hill High School students who attended the Model United Nations conference at Appalachian State University on November 9, 13 returned home with awards.
The club is organized and run by students who prepare themselves outside of school to compete at these conferences.
The delegation from China swept up an overwhelming majority of the victories for Chapel Hill. China’s delegation consisted of seniors Yasmin Frischemeier and Alec Caruana, who won awards for both Best Delegation and Best Position Paper of the UN Security Council. Other participants representing China were juniors Erin Timmins and Tallulah Chen, who won Best Delegation
and Best Position Paper for the UN Environment Program.
Other winners from China include juniors Robin Huang and Nabil Kalantar, who won Best Delegation for the G20 Summit, and senior Dirk Chisholm and junior Alexander Knight, who won for Superior Delegation for the General Assembly. Junior Bryan Yam was also presented with an award for Excellent Delegation for the World Health Organization.
Two Chapel Hill students also received Honorable Mention at the conference. Senior Hunter Gray, representing Turkey, received the award for the G20 Summit, and senior Emily Trusky, who played the role of Dan Coats on the National Security Council, received it for Crisis Simulation.
Even more than the awards, many competitors put more value in the community within Model UN.
“Everyone might be representing different countries or be in different committees, but there’s a really strong sense of camaraderie that’s formed from spending so much time together,” junior Erin Timmins said.
Timmins, along with Huang, joined Model UN in middle school. “I’ve always enjoyed politics and history. It’s one of my dreams to become an international politician who can enact change to improve the world. Model UN is a simulation of that dream,” Huang said.
Timmins also added that the conference focused on issues that she cared deeply about, so it provided the opportunity to use that passion to get more creative when it came to writing resolutions. Both students say that being a part of Model UN has enhanced their public speaking skills and ability to think quickly on their feet.
“It has pushed me miles out of my comfort zone,” Huang said.
With three more competitions scheduled for this year, Chapel Hill High School’s Model UN club hopes to bring home many more victories, in the form of both awards and valuable lifelong skills. “I’ve learned how to look at issues from more than one perspective as a result of Model UN, and it has taught me how to formulate solutions to problems that benefit everyone,” Timmins said.
