Over 1,100 delegates attended the University of Pennsylvania Model United Nations Conference this past weekend, organized by 300+ U.Penn staff led by Secretary-General Varun Arte and Director-General Karthik Kumar.
Click here to see our UPMUNC 2012 Facebook Album!
UPMUNC featured 5 GAs, 4 ECOSOCs, including the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees and UN Industrial Development Organization, and 12 crisis committees, including simulations on Star Wars, The Wire, 1920s Prohibition, and the 1910 Jekyll Island Conference that led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve.
The infamous Ad-Hoc Committee of the Secretary-General centered around a land grab between warring powers over recently discovered oil in the antarctic. MUN rockstars Arka Mallela and Yadavan Mahendaraj and their staff managed a very intense committee of Head Delegates, who passed over 700 notes and directives, and some of the best delegates on the college circuit, including award winners Dane Shikman (Georgetown), Mark Mahvi (U.Chicago), and Warren Geary (West Point).
Delegations awards went to:
- Best Large Delegation — University of Chicago (their 2nd Best Large after Columbia CMUNNY)
- Outstanding Large Delegation — Georgetown University (their 2nd Outstanding Large after Yale SCSY)
- Best Small Delegation — Florida International University (their 3rd Best Small after Columbia CMUNNY and BU BarMUN)
- Outstanding Small Delegation — Boston University (their 2nd Outstanding Small after Georgetown NCSC)
Judging by my unofficial awards tally, Harvard also put in a very strong performance that included 4 Best Delegate awards. GWU, Claremont McKenna, Emory, Clark, Yale, and West Point also performed well, each receiving several Best Delegate and Outstanding awards.
With the results from UPMUNC, now both U.Chicago and U.Penn now have 2 Best Large awards. Georgetown has 1 Best Large from BarMUN and 2 Outstanding Large awards from SCSY and now UPMUNC. Harvard has 2 Outstanding Large awards, from CMUNNY and NCSC. FIU has 3 Best Small awards (CMUNNY, BarMUN, and now UPMUNC) and West Point has 2 Best Small awards (SCSY and NCSC). And among Outstanding Small award winners, BU has 2 such awards, Clark has 1 from SCSY (in addition to a strong performance at UPMUNC), and Stanford has 1 from CMUNNY (they were busy this weekend with their high school conference, SMUNC, which KFC blogged about here).
[Note: We’re waiting for conferences to post official awards results. If you’d like to make a correction or add something, please leave a comment below.]
How will UPMUNC impact the mid-season rankings? Find out soon!
Best Large Delegation — University of Chicago
Best Small Delegation — Florida International University
This was the first college conference I’ve visited in over a year and it was great to finally meet in person many of the MUN rockstars I had heard so much about, especially our own Media Associates Phill, Mari, and Amy. I also enjoyed seeing some familiar faces, especially delegates whom I first met when they were freshmen and sophomores, and who are now the juniors and seniors leading their teams and clubs. UPMUNC was also my first college conference when I was a student and I have a lot of fond memories, so it was fun to re-live my glory days!
Thank you to Varun and Karthik for their gracious hospitality and introducing me to staff and Head Delegates. Also special thanks to Phill for arranging my visit. And shout outs to UCLA and GWU — thank you for making me feel welcome and re-introducing me to the college circuit — I really enjoyed meeting and hanging out with you all! Congratulations to all delegates and staff on a wonderful conference!
