I got to meet at lot of Best Delegate fans at WAMUNC!
Blogging the Washington Area Model United Nations Conference (WAMUNC) is always a little different since we’ve spoken at Opening Ceremonies in the past two years. Here’s my speech from this year. Speaking enabled me to meet a lot more fans at the conference, particularly those from New Jersey. But of course, WAMUNC isn’t about my experience. It’s about the delegates learning and having fun in committee, and we have the liveblog of the conference below to show you what that looks like!
Here’s our liveblog of the conference. As usual, we try to take photos of delegates in action, particularly those who were actively leading their committees:
Delegates vote in DISEC
Brazil (West Windsor-Plainsboro HS North) leads some after-hours negotiation in the OAS
Barbados (Port Charlotte) and Bolivia (Coral Reef) debate an idea in the OAS
A delegate in the IOC tries to convince others that the next Olympics should be held in a Middle Eastern country
Delegates in action in the IOC
UNDP chairs count the votes
Delegates negotiate a resolution outside of the committee room in the CCPCJ
The United States (Port Charlotte) makes a speech in the CCPCJ
India (West Windsor-Plainsboro HS South) makes some great points as delegates listen in attentively
South Africa (Bergen County Academies) makes a comment during moderated caucus in the CCPCJ
Tunisia makes a speech in the CCPCJ
The Bahamas (Mt. Lebanon High School) makes a comment during moderated caucus in the CCPCJ
Cuba literally draws an analogy to the divide between the two caucus groups in the CCPCJ
Germany makes a comment during moderated caucus in the CCPCJ
Thailand (Toronto French School) makes a speech in the CCPCJ
Croatia (Stuyvesant High School) was one of the few delegates to break the deadlock by pointing out the differences in the two resolutions, namely that one could violate national sovereignty while the other does not.
Japan (Stuyvesant High School) makes her solutions loud and clear in the East Asia Summit
Viet Nam (Bergen County Academies) has concerns about sustainable development in the East Asia Summit
The United States (Port Charlotte High School) makes a speech in the East Asia Summit
The Russian Federation (Oceanside High School) leads a caucus bloc in UNESCO
Senegal (Lancaster Country Day School) adds in his ideas during unmoderated caucus in UNESCO
A caucus bloc led by Switzerland (West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South) explain their draft resolution to the UNHCR.
A crisis staffer briefs the North Korean Command
A delegate (left) in the North Korean Command receives an offer from the exiled brother of the Chair (played by GWU alum and former Head Delegate Sheng Zhou) to betray the chair in exchange for a high military position
GWIAS Jeremy Ilouian chairs the UN Command joint crisis on the Korean peninsula
The UN Command was divided into diplomats and military officials. Delegates on both sides listened closely to the latest crisis update.
A delegate (Franklin High School) reads off the press release in the UN Command
Delegates on with diplomacy roles brainstorm about solutions in the UN Command
Amy O'Halloran, who poses dual American and Irish citizenship, made for an expert chair in the North Ireland Peace Settlement Negotiations
Madeline Albright (Port Charlotte High School) speaks in the North Ireland Peace Settlement Negotiations
The Democratic Unionist Party and Labor Group (West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North) speaks in the North Ireland Peace Settlement Negotiations
Lithuania speaks in NATO
France (Franklin High School) asks a question in NATO
Lebanon (Port Charlotte) speaks in the League of Arab States
Qatar speaks in the League of Arab States
China adds his country's thoughts to the discussion in the League of Arab States
Bahrain speaks in the League of Arab States
Djibouti speaks in the League of Arab States
Mauritania responds to Djibouti's ideas in the League of Arab States
China speaks in the Security Council
WAMUNC crisis staff love!
More WAMUNC crisis staff love!
The German judge in the ICJ makes her arguments as other judges listen
The United States judge makes her case and says that there is not enough evidence to rule against Belgium
Press Corps chair Kerry Lanzo briefs the correspondents before they go off to different committees
The Press Corps listens in on committee to find interesting stories
NGO Programme Chair Alyson Brown briefs the NGO leaders about the type of support and involvement they can contribute to resolutions in the committees. I thought WAMUNC's NGO program did a good job curbing the rampant use of NGOs in resolutions.
Oceanside delegates having fun at WAMUNC
Fort Myers High School poses for a team photo at WAMUNC
Best Delegate Fans from New Jersey
There was a huge contingent of Best Delegate fans in attendance as evidenced by the cheers I got when my name was announced as a speaker during Opening Ceremonies. This included many schools from New Jersey, a hotbed of Model UN, who wanted to take a photo with me. Ironically, most of the New Jersey schools missed my speech -_-
Anyway, here are some photos of me with Best Delegate fans at WAMUNC:
This delegate from Bergen County Academies claims to be Best Delegate's #1 fan. She has met both Ryan and KFC at separate conferences!
This delegate from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North also claims to be Best Delegate's #1 fan. She explained how the website has helped her break out of her shell, an experience that I can definitely relate to and mentioned in my Opening Ceremonies speech.
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South delegates are big fans of Best Delegate!
More Best Delegate fans from both West Windsor-Plainsboro campuses!
Awards
Best Large Delegation: Port Charlotte High School (Florida)
Best Small Delegation: West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North (New Jersey)
Port Charlotte won Best Large Delegation at WAMUNC
West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North won Best Small Delegation
WAMUNC made for a great tilt in the schedule as teams that competed at various conferences such as HMUN, YMUN, ILMUNC, and NAIMUN finally got to go head-to-head with each other. The conference was heavily attended by public schools from New Jersey and New York but had a solid mix of schools from throughout the entire Atlantic seaboard as well as schools from twelve countries abroad, and overall felt less cutthroat than the largest conferences.
The top three teams, Port Charlotte, West Windsor-Plainsboro HS South, and West Windsor-Plainsboro HS North, were pretty even at the gavel count, but Port Charlotte had a much deeper bench and more than doubled any team in terms of total number of Outstandings and Honorable Mentions won. Port Charlotte ran away with the Best Large Delegation, and WWP-North took home the Best Small Delegation. WWP-South, which according to our unofficial tally finished second overall in weighted awards, also contended for a large delegation award.
Oceanside, Franklin, and Stuyvesant also had strong performances from across their respective teams. Other teams that did well include Poughkeepsie Day School, Collegiate Academy, St. Anslem’s Abbey, Coral Reef, Mt. Lebanon, Trumbull, and Bergen County Academies.
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Thanks to Secretary-General Bryce Jarvis, Chief of Staff Rupalee Rashatwar, Press Corps chair Kerry Lanzo, GWIAS President Jeremy Ilouian, and the rest of the WAMUNC staff for showing me around!
