Trumbull’s Model UN Club Continues its Success

“Diplomacy is the art of restraining power. In order to build consensus, one must understand where and when to apply pressure.”  Trumbull High School’s senior Michael McGuigan made that statement after his second Best Delegate win at two conferences for Model United Nations in March.  McGuigan, the Vice President of the Model UN club, took home the prestigious first place gavel at the Washington Area Model UN Conference in Washington DC during the weekend of March 22^nd to March 25^th and the Dartmouth University Model UN Conference the next weekend. 

With the support of Trumbull’s Academic Challenge for Excellence (ACE) Foundation and Business Education Initiative (BEI), seventeen students from Trumbull High School’s Model United Nations club spent four days with over 1100 students from around the world discussing world issues at various committees in George Washington University’s Model United Nations competition (WAMUNC).   McGuigan won the top honors for his work as the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly in the Joint Crisis Committee on the Korean Peninsula.  Senior Alexa Hiznay took home her second Outstanding Delegate award for her work as Spain in the International Olympic Committee.  Freshman Michael Zabin rounded out Trumbull’s awards with an Honorable Mention for his work as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Saudi Cabinet for the Joint Crisis Committee on the Arab Fall.  The other students that attended the four day conference include seniors Jenn Bont, Quynh-Lan Dao, Emily Gillis, Jenna Gunsolley, Kathleen Hickey, Rachel Laffitte, Jenielle Morrison, and Silvia Sclafani, juniors Lily Bauer, Brandon Capece, Evan LeClair, Christopher LoBosco, Jeffrey Netting, and Dimitrios Toromanides.

The following weekend, nineteen of Trumbull’s underclassmen in the Model UN club traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire to participate in Dartmouth’s Model UN competition.  McGuigan once again won the Best Delegate award for his work as the Russian Federation in the United Nations Security Council.  Sophomore Larissa Mark took home the Honorable Mention award for her work as Slovakia in the European Union.  Mark said, “The experience that DartMUN provided me is something that cannot be attained anywhere else.  The type of quick thinking necessary and the amount of public speaking done cannot be rivaled by any other activity that I have participated in.”

Model United Nations is a crisis packed simulation that allows and encourages students to learn as they go.  In Model UN, unlike most of classroom learning, the student is not constantly tested and graded; instead the Model UN student must have done their research beforehand and then listen to diverse viewpoints and be able to communicate together in order to truly problem-solve.  Senior Michael McGuigan and juniors Kevin Bielicki, Gulrukh Haroon, and Ryan McEniry not only participated in the conference, but they also served as mentors for the club’s underclassmen at Dartmouth including the following students:  sophomores TJ Ieronimo, Kunal Jhaveri, Larissa Mark, and Rakshana Selverajan, and freshmen Thaddeus Cullina, Haley DeWeese, Eric Eisdorfer, Michael Gangnath, Zanieb Haroon, Krystyna Kryzanski, Nick Lozinak, Josh Madweed, Anthony Masi, Dan Netting, and Madison Thompson.

Students at the conferences learn about the world as they prepare for Model UN conferences, represent countries other than their own, and present possible solutions to global problems like the treatment of protestors and nuclear proliferation.  Katie Boland, social studies teacher at Trumbull High School and advisor of the club, said “Model UN motivates students to become an active member in the global world.  In this era of globalization, learning about the world is more important than ever.  No matter what field or profession the students enter in the future, they will interact with people from different countries and backgrounds.  Problems taking place halfway around the globe impact our daily lives, our country and our communities.”