This post was provided by Parth Shingala, JPSMUN Under Secretary-General Class of ’13. J.P. Stevens MUN won Best Large Delegation at the 2012 Harvard MUN conference.
The JPSMUN Team at HMUN
Coming from the suburbs of Edison, NJ, JP Stevens High School does not have a typical Model UN program by any means. The club meets once a week after school for forty five minutes and is all inclusive. Membership is not denied to any student, and no one needs to “try out” to gain a spot. JPSMUN is proud of the fact that it is a public school; in fact, it loves being considered the underdog. One may view the JPSMUN delegation as a couple of ragtag students with faux hawks who typically pay close attention to gaining support of the back row and calling themselves the “voice of the developing nations”. The aforementioned claim is exactly who we are, and we take pride in that matter.
Last year, if you were to say that JPSMUN were to capture Best Large Delegation at HMUN, we’d call that hogwash. At HMUN 2011, JPSMUN had a sixth place finish, with only a few awards. A year later, the team went through a rebuilding phase, a change of leadership, and a new focus on training. A year later, attempting to defy the means, we entered in with 26 delegates, ten more compared to the previous year. Out of these 26 delegates, only 10 delegates had debated at the highly competitive HMUN. For the rest of the 16 delegates, 8 of them had just started pursuing Model UN this year. Out of all nine partnerships, only two partnerships had experience with each other in prior conferences. These brave 26 delegates represented the upper echelon of JP Stevens High School, these 26 delegates that were guided by a vision– a purpose, the purpose to grow. No matter what the outcome, delegates were aware of the fact that the conference was ultimately a learning experience in the big picture; the skills acquired from this conference are definitely helpful when it comes to other conferences. Meeting once a week at an Executive Board member’s house, we all gathered and helped each other out in our own time. Staying after school at the library, all of us were there for each other. Every single delegate from JPSMUN was there to mature as a delegate, even if it was their third HMUN or their third national conference. This spirit was embodied
The JPSMUN Specialized Agency Winners
throughout the weekend. The team never backed down, they pulled all nighters prior to the conference hoping to understand Russian foreign policy. The Executive Board made it clear that HMUN was apart of a bigger process- the entire Model UN experience that’s extremely worthwhile, an experience that cements a plethora of memories down the line. On that note, 26 delegates from a public school in Central New Jersey attempted to turn some heads at what arguably may be the most competitive and prestigious conference in the nation. The task was not easy, it had never been done– but the new look of JP Stevens Model UN, under the brilliant leadership of advisers Mr. Anthony White and Dr. Geis truly performed. This year marked the first time that JPSMUN ever performed in the specialized agencies at HMUN, the result– An Outstanding delegation in the flagship UNSC, and three best delegate awards in respective crisis committees. Walking into uncharted territory, JPSMUN delegates pulled out all the stops, utilizing everything they learned from meetings in an Eboard member’s basement.
The JPSMUN Chant:
JPSMUN! What is your tuition?
Zero! Zero! Zero!
