BYU’s Model United Nations team recently competed at the National Model United Nations Conference in Washington, DC, held November 5–7, 2021. The conference was held in person, with everyone masked and vaccinated.
This was a notable outing for BYU’s MUN program, says Alix Hess, a teaching assistant for the 2021–2022 team: “This was the largest group we have taken to a fall conference.” The team was divided into three delegations, representing the Netherlands, Madagascar, and Saudi Arabia.
The team’s hard work paid off in the form of a number of awards and recognitions: the Malagasy and Saudi Arabian Delegations were both recognized as Outstanding Delegations (the top delegation award presented at the conference). In addition, Hess (Political Science) and Layne DeHart (Sociology/International Development) earned a position paper award within their committee for a research paper they’d written about Madagascar’s positions on the topics addressed by the General Assembly 3rd Committee. Boston Kelley (Economics) and Matheus Araujo de Medeiros (Economics), who represented Saudi Arabia on the Economic and Social Council, were recognized by their peers as Outstanding Delegates within the committee.
Outside of the conference, the team enjoyed a number of notable activities, including a tour of the US Capitol courtesy of Senator Mike Lee’s office; a meeting with Aaron Sherinian, Senior Vice President of Global Reach for Deseret Management Corporation; a lecture from Jeffrey M. Hovenier, a BYU alumnus who has been nominated to serve as US Ambassador to Kosovo; and a meeting with Senator Mitt Romney, current US senator and former governor of Massachusetts and presidential candidate.
The BYU MUN team is now gearing up for Winter semester and their largest competition opportunity. Anyone interested in learning more can attend the Final Mock Session, which will be held 14 December 2021 in the Moot Court Room of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (303 JRCB). See more details here about the class and how to register for next fall semester.