Closing ceremonies
Written by Vishesh Sharma, crisis director, and Eric Zhang, Chief of External Relations. Congratulations to all those who won awards, and to Vanderbilt Model United Nations for a successful high school conference.
Last weekend, high school students from across the nation gathered in Nashville, Tennessee for the fourteenth session of the Vanderbilt University Model United Nations conference. The conference was held on Vanderbilt’s campus and was run by the Vanderbilt International Relations Association.
The opening ceremony, led by Secretary-General Morgan Marquez, featured keynote speaker Dr. Keith Weghorst leading a discussion on the state of democracy in the current geopolitical landscape. He encouraged the over 600 attending students to take an active role in guiding society in the decades to come–to resist apathy in both domestic politics and global affairs alike.
These students then brought this message with them to 22 committees, participating in intense debate and creative crises. As always, VUMUN offered a majority of crisis committees – 17 in total – reflecting the focus of its collegiate team. The committees covered a variety of subjects, from SOCHUM dealing with the humanitarian crisis plaguing Yemen, the Roman Senate addressing Julius Caesar’s Rise to Power, the crisis simulations of President Johnson’s Cabinet, and the triple agents of the CIA-KGB JCC. Delegates at the Bretton Woods Conference, 1944 came together to forge a cooperative, global economy necessary in the post-war age, and Braveheart 2014 shook the global oil market in the midst of Scottish Independence from the United Kingdom.
Throughout committee, delegates also worked together to contribute donations towards this year’s philanthropy event. The conference raised more than $1500 to be sent to UNICEF Hurricane Relief. The committee with the largest sum this year, the African Union, pied their Chair and Co-chair as a part of the awards ceremony. After a suspenseful awards announcement, Morgan Marquez closed out the conference with a final speech thanking delegates, advisers, and staff alike for an amazing year and one of the best VUMUNs yet.
Once the exhilarating sessions of debate were over, the delegates had all of Music City to explore – visiting local restaurants, participating in dance and music, and touring all of Nashville’s amazing sights, including the Parthenon, the Rock n’ Roll hall of fame, and the beautiful Centennial Park.
Congratulations to the following high schools who received delegation awards:
Best Delegation: American Heritage School Plantation – Plantation, FL
Outstanding Delegation: St. Vincent – St. Mary High School – Akron, OH
Members of Johnson’s Cabinet deciding who should be the next Vice Presidential Nominee
