Hello and welcome to Best Delegate!
My name is Aaron Kalafarski and I am proud to be serving as Best Delegate’s Editor in Chief for the 2015-2016 Model UN season. Allow me to first introduce myself and then introduce this year’s Senior Leadership team and discussing our goals.
I graduated from the University of Florida in May with a major in Political Science and an International Relations Certificate. I recently moved to South Korea where I am teaching English and exploring in my free time! I have been involved with Model United Nations since 2008. I helped found my high school’s competitive Model UN team, served as the University of Florida’s Secretary-General for GatorMUN XI, and worked for Model UN Institute as a Diplomacy Fellow for the past three summers. In my free time I enjoy playing sports (especially soccer), surfing the interwebs, traveling, consuming pop culture, and having a laugh. I am excited to be returning to the Best Delegate team!
Nikita Barde – Partnerships Manager
Model United Nations has been a part of my life since my freshman year of high school in 2009, when I realized that the Model UN community encourages innovative, knowledgeable leadership and teamwork. Through Model UN, I learned about global affairs, and how students could inspire others just as they are inspired to make a change in the world. As a member of the Best Delegate team since September 2012, I have had the opportunity to inspire others through my roles as a Media Associate for the US Northeast region, Media Manager for the North American region, Under Secretary-General of the Middle East and Africa regions and as the Editor of Content. In addition, I served as the President of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North MUN team for the 2012-2013 school year, and attended many competitive conferences in the Northeast region. Furthermore, I am currently a member of the Institute for Domestic and International Affairs at Rutgers University, where I have served as a staff member for several conferences including Rutgers Model United Nations, Philadelphia Model United Nations, and Rutgers Model Congress.
Natalia Daza – Editor of Community Content
Inspired by her Model UN experience, Natalia currently studies Political Science at Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia. Natalia has participated in Model United Nations over the last five years. During high school, Natalia won multiple Model UN awards, including Best Delegate at a university-level conference, which represented a huge accomplishment for a high school junior student. Furthermore, she also had the opportunity to attend Best Delegate Summer Programs in 2013 and 2014, which remain as her best Model UN experiences. Currently Natalia ended her first term serving Best Delegate as Under Secretary General for Latin America, works at
COLMUN (Colombia Model of United Nations) as Logistics Director and is an active member of Los Andes University Model UN Society (ONUANDES).
Working on Natalia’s team include:
Alex Sideris representing Europe and Africa
Serena Frechter representing North and South America
Matthew Watson representing Asia and Pacific
Kymberley Chu representing the Middle East & Olive Branch Content
Caroline Bello – Editor of Model UN Training Resources
Caroline is a sophomore at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is majoring in International Affairs with a focus on International Politics and minoring in Journalism and Mass Communications. In 2013 she attended the Best Delegate Summer Institute at Georgetown, in 2015 she came back to MUNI as a Diplomacy Fellow. Besides her work with Best Delegate and WAMUNC, Caroline helps run the @MUNGirlProblems twitter and has worked on The Hill and with an internationally recognized non-profit.
Working on Caroline’s team include:
Amanda Lee
Bill Kosmidis
Caroline Rose
Cem Ozmen
Dennis Penu
Jaebok Lee
Liza Bell
Richard Zhao
Xinrui Xue
Our Media Associates will be publishing individual introduction articles themselves. Keep an eye out for them!
We would like to now turn our attention to you the reader! As the Model UN Community changes we are dedicated to change with it. This year we have two simple goals. First, we want to continue to improve the content on the website. Second, we want to increase the participation from the community. However, these goals cannot be accomplished without you! We will of course be publishing our regular yearly articles such as the All-Star Team and conference recaps, but, with your participation, you can help decide what Best Delegate writes about. Your participation through reading, commenting, sharing, and liking will help drive this year’s content. So please get in contact with us! Send me a comment, email, or smoke signal! I prefer email though!
You can contact me at aaron@bestdelegate.com
I look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
Aaron Kalafarski
Editor in Chief
