Team FIU receives highest honors at National Model UN

Team FIU bested more than 183 delegations from around the world to dominate the competition at the 2011 National Model United Nations event, held April 17-21 in New York City. The team leaves the competition with Outstanding Delegation honors as well as top awards (Delegates Delegate) for team members, who served on 12 committees.

FIU News was in the Big Apple with the team, chronicling their experiences. Follow the team on their journey to success in the Worlds ahead mini-documentary below.

This year more than 5,000 university students from five continents participated. FIU has fielded a team for more than 10 of the annual event’s 40 years of existence.

Areas of evaluation upon which the teams were judged: remaining in character, participating in committee (both during formal session and caucusing), and proper use of the rules of procedure.

Before departing for the conference, the team was given a presentation on Uruguayan policies by the by the Uruguayan Consulate General of Miami.

“Believe it or not, this was the first time FIU represented a Latin American country,” said Cristine Ale, FIU MUN head-delegate. “Our goal as a team was to accurately represent Uruguay on an international level and to illustrate that, regardless of its geographical size, Uruguay plays a vital role in the international community.”

Team FIU was comprised of twenty-four delegates and was the largest team in FIU history to win the Outstanding Delegation Award.

“Aside from being the largest delegation FIU has ever fielded, what makes this accomplishment so great is that it could not have been accomplished without a complete team effort,” said FIU MUN head-delegate Ryan Brooks. “Our team was comprised of 16 first-year delegates, which makes this accomplishment all the more impressive.”

FIU Model UN team

Team members in alphabetical order: Cristine Ale, Yesenia Alfonso, Federico Baez, Ryan Brooks, Karla Cabral, Nick Chura, Watlyn Clervoix, Nahir Davila, Mario Di Giovanni, Michael Fernandez, Melissa Font, David Gilarranz, Daniela Gonzalez, Aaron Heria, Laura Javier, Macarena Jimenez, Nicolas Jimenez, Jesse Lemon, Octavio Mella, Juan Muskus, Manuel Nino, Christina Olivos, Ana Portal, Hayden Simms, Iohana Sanchez, and Alexandra Uriarte.

In addition to the Outstanding Delegation award, all 24 FIU MUN delegates participating at the conference were awarded the Outstanding Delegate in Committees award. The previous FIU record for winning this award was five in 2009. The team this year more than doubled this amount.

“Having the delegates unite and believe in the concept of team is the most rewarding aspect of Model UN,” said Ray Hernandez, FIU Model United Nations Program Director. “This is the first time in FIU MUN history that every delegate has had the experience of winning an individual, as well as a team award. This team is conclusively the most successful team FIU has ever fielded. Being recognized by the NMUN staff as an Outstanding Delegation is no easy task, yet having the entire team be chosen as the Best Delegates by their peers in every committee that they participated in speaks volumes of our team and its performance.”

To check out scenes from earlier in the competition, watch the videos in this post.

FIU Model UN is supported by the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of International and Public Affairs’ Department of Politics and International Relations, and the Student Government Association.