Written by Adam Himes, Secretary General of SIMUN XVI. Congratulations to all who have won awards, and the Saint Ignatius Model UN Team for a successful conference.
The first weekend of November is always a busy time for MUN in the Chicagoland area, because for sixteen years in a row, delegates from all over the country converge on 1076 W Roosevelt Road for Saint Ignatius’ SIMUN conference. Located in the heart of Chicago, Saint Ignatius has hosted a conference for over a decade and SIMUN loves connecting local crises such as the Chicago City Council to real world events such as UN bodies having breakout summits in the city. This year, SIMUN XVI hosted over 1,000 delegates from 45 different schools on November 4. Delegates participated in 31 committees including nine crisis committees dealing with everything from the Star Wars galaxy to the 1969 Chinese Politburo.
Chinese Politburo 1969
The opening ceremonies, featuring keynote speaker Umut Acar, the Turkish Consul General to Chicago dove deep into international relations and highlighted why the work done at Model United Nations conferences is so vital to the progress of our generation. A topic that has come to the forefront of SIMUN over the past few years is “character driven diplomacy.” SIMUN’s emphasis on this means a commitment to fostering diplomatic dialogue the right way, trying to foster consensus-based debate, and not rewarding delegates who backstab or cheat others. In a field such as international politics, practicing character driven diplomacy speaks volumes about delegates individually, and it is a message that SIMUN has loved putting forward. Delegates took this theme and ran with it, coming up with innovative solutions that kept the Simulations Department run by Katie Goldman on their toes and eagerly updating the committees on their progress.
JCC Imperial Side: Star Wars
The SIMUN Secretariat had the idea for many of these committees in November of 2016, a year before SIMUN XVI, and was thrilled to see delegate’s responses to their ideas. Committees like the JCC: Star Wars, Caesar’s War Room and 1982 British House of Commons dealt with a variety of issues from intergalactic trade deals to the Falklands Island disputes, and the SIMUN staff loved how delegates responded to the crises that were implemented. To end the conference, Secretary-General Adam Himes announced a conference first—a tie in delegation awards—and announced SIMUN XVII’s Secretary-General, Delaney Coyne. With that, the conference concluded, as did the best SIMUN yet.
Congratulations to the following high schools who received delegation awards:
Best Large Delegation: Lyons Township High School – LaGrange, IL
Best Small Delegation: William Fremd High School – Palatine, IL
Co-Outstanding Large Delegation – Carl Sandburg High School – Orland Park, IL
Co-Outstanding Large Delegation – Glenbrook South High School – Glenview, IL
Outstanding Small Delegation – York Community High School – Elmhurst, IL
