St. John's Model UN attends Chicago conference for 26th straight year, takes home awards

Written by Cody Shallow '14, President of SJMUN

From Wednesday, February 5 to Sunday, February 9, the Saint John's Model United Nations took a trip to Chicago in order to take part in the 26th Model UN Conference of the University of Chicago, better known as MUNUC. This is the 26th year that Saint John's has sent students to participate in the conference. Many Saint John's students won awards, recognitions, and honorable mentions at the 2014 conference.

Initially, there was doubt running amongst the members of the SJ delegation about whether they would arrive in Chicago, as yet another snow storm pummeled Massachusetts. However, the team was able to depart on one of three flights to leave Boston all day, and the 37 SJMUN travelers arrived safely in Chicago.

When committee began, the Saint John's delegation was more than ready, after two months of preparation. Committee sessions ran for about 20 hours over the next several days. SJ delegates represented Australia and Mali in various committees, including Disarmament and International Security, Legal, Security Council, World Cities Summit, International Atomic Energy Agency, and Special Political and Decolonization, amongst many others. Additionally, Saint John's took part in three crisis committees: The French Popular Front (1936), The South African Cabinet (1994), and the British Imperial War Cabinet (1917).

Many Saint John's students were honored with verbal commendations, and four Saint John's delegates were recognized for their work with even higher awards. Robert O'Gara '14 won Outstanding Delegate in the South African Cabinet, Christian Suglia '16 won an Honorable Mention as Mali in SPECPOL, and Tim Deedy '14 and Brendan Mahoney '14 won Honorable Mentions as Australia in the Security Council. Though Model UN is not about awards, the SJ team was delighted to hear that many of its members were recognized, especially those in extremely competitive committees.

Learn more about SJMUN at Saint John's, see photos from the 2014 MUNUC and follow @SJMUN on Twitter!