The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Model United Nations team received high honors at the Midwest Model United Nations competition and is preparing to show its skills on a national level.
The basics: The Midwest conference was held Feb. 21-24 in St. Louis and featured more than 50 countries represented by nearly 30 schools. Delegates worked on topics like nuclear testing, health literacy, disaster risk reduction, and informal economies.
About the Titans: Because of pandemic-related disruptions in recent years, a majority of the students on the UW Oshkosh team were first-time participants in MUN and many of the rest were taking part for just a second time.
At the conference, the UWO team represented five countries: Rwanda, Philippines, Tunisia, Norway, and Liberia. The delegates prepared for the event by developing research, writing and public speaking skills—skills that were applied to further their negotiation and diplomacy skills. At the event they passed more than 50 resolutions across a range of topics.
Earning recognition: The UWO team was recognized with 10 delegate and five delegation-wide awards. All five country delegations received awards, which are designated by conference staff based on country awareness, topic knowledge, writing, public speaking, consensus building and diplomatic negotiation. Rwanda and Philippines received Outstanding Delegation Awards (highest honor); Tunisia and Norway received Distinguished Delegation Awards; and Liberia received an honorable mention.
UWO students also earned nine individual delegate awards in committee:
· Two outstanding delegate awards (Philippines/Trenton Korth; Tunisia/Elaina Swafford),
· Two honorable mention delegate awards (Philippines/Sebastian Vang; Norway/Mason Sada)
· Three position paper awards (Liberia/Elizabeth Tisler; Philippines/Sebastian Vang; Rwanda/Meg Traska)
· Two delegate’s choice awards (Rwanda/Meg Traska; Tunisia/Soeum Claire Im). (The delegate’s choice awards are chosen by peers in each committee.)
What’s next: The Titans continue their preparations for the national MUN competition March 23 – 29 in New York City.